God's Work with Planet Earth

In this blog, I started at the beginning in Genesis, and we’ve been exploring the the 5th Stage of God’s Work with Planet Earth in the last few posts, centered on Revelation. So now I want to go back and ask one question about each stage, and explore the answer.

Stage 1 – Creation

Question: If God is omniscient and He has foreknowledge, then He would know that Lucifer would rebel (Isaiah 14:12-17, Revelation 12:7-12), and that Adam and Eve would distrust and disobey Him (Genesis 3). Why did He create them anyway, knowing how things would go?

If God never created any beings who He knew would disobey, and the only beings He did create were those He knew would be loyal, is that really true freedom?

You don’t get to exist in God’s Universe unless you will obey Him?

This is not the God we see in the Bible, Who appeals and pleads with humans to follow His ways to life and peace, but never forces or coerces people.

Ultimately, God wants His creatures to learn from Him and follow Him out of love and devotion. This would not be the case if He only gave life to those who He knew would be faithful.

Satan accuses God of being a cosmic dictator with unfair rules, but a close look at God’s actions and His commands in the Bible tell a different story.

But we should know that the reason God is allowing this sin rebellion to play out, before He puts an end to it, is this:

“…Affliction will not rise up a second time.” Nahum 1:9

“…but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin…” Hebrews 9:26

Stage 2 – The Flood

Question: Why did God break up “the fountains of the great deep”, cause the vapor barrier above the atmosphere to fall as torrential rain (Genesis 7:11), and literally turn the world inside out by causing the water inside to be on the outside?

Check out these two translations of the same verse:

“And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:13, ESV

“And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:13, NKJV

• ESV: Could be interpreted – Humans were not doing what God wanted, so God got angry and drowned the world
• NKJV: Shows that, in His foreknowledge, God saw that humanity was headed for extinction. They would eventually wipe themselves out. He had to intervene to prevent this.

Possible causes of human extinction in our modern world:

• Back in the 80’s during the Cold War, the fear was nuclear annihilation (mutually assured destruction), if every nation with nuclear weapons fired at each other. It’s still a valid concern today.
• Birth rates are declining in many countries around the world, so that the birth rate falls below the death rate. This is not sustainable. At some point, no more humans.
• “Gain of function” research for weaponizing viruses much worse than COVID19 could leak from a lab, wiping out the world’s population.

Whatever was going on back before the Flood, I think it’s clear we are living “in the days of Noah” again. But because of God’s covenant promise, represented by the rainbow (Genesis 9:12-16), we know God will not cause a second global flood. Instead, Christ will return and rescue His people out of this world (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Stage 3 – Jesus’ First Coming

Question: Why was it necessary for the Son of God, the Ruler of the universe, to be born as a human and die on Planet Earth? Was there no other way to accomplish the reconciliation of humans to their Creator?

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23

“…the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23

This is not a justice system of Planet Earth, but of the Universe. Where sin is committed, it earns the wages of death, and those wages must be paid.

So God developed a plan,

“…that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:26

On one hand, God cannot compromise or make exceptions to His universal system of justice, or He would be unjust.

One the other hand, He loves His created humans so much that He is willing to sacrifice part of Himself to save them. Christ being the Son of God and sinless, was the only One who could take the place of sinful humans, and take their guilt and punishment.

In this way, God can be both “just and the justifier” of humans. He created a way out of a condemned world for humans, but without perverting His moral standard.

One more related observation: If God’s moral law could be done away with, then Christ would not have needed to die.

Stage 4 – Jesus’ Second Coming

Let’s start with Jesus’ warning to His disciples after they asked Him about the end of the world and His return.

“And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” Matthew 24:4-5

Question: If either humans or fallen angels appear “according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and all unrighteous deception among those who perish” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10), then how can we avoid being deceived? How can we know if it’s really Jesus?

Later in Matthew 24, Jesus warned again:

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.” Matthew 24:23

“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it.” Matthew 24:26

In between these two verses, Jesus said “See, I have told you beforehand”. (verse 25) I could paraphrase this as “Make sure you understand, I’m giving you clues and a warning before this happens.”

So Jesus told His disciples (and us, who have the Bible) that when someone says He has returned somewhere on the earth, whether in a remote place (desert) or an “inner room”, “do not believe it”! The way Jesus makes His appearance when He returns seems to be a key.

“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:30

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 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.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

These passages give us a key detail: When Jesus appears, it will be “in heaven”, “on the clouds”, and when the righteous are resurrected, they will be “caught up” “in the clouds to meet the Lord “in the air”. Jesus isn’t coming down, and instead His people are being “caught up”. So someone anywhere on earth without millions of holy angels cannot possibly match the return of Jesus described here.

Another point: a false christ might be able to create the illusion of resurrecting someone from the dead, but they’ll never be able to cause people to pop out of their graves all over the world, as the passage above describes.

“For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:27

“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” Revelation 1:7

Jesus’ appearance is going to fill up the entire sky, and it will be so loud and highly visible that no one still alive will miss it. Satan might be able to inspire entertainment empires like Hollywood and even cause UFO sightings (signs and wonders), but he won’t be able to counterfeit Jesus’ coming in this way.

Stage 5 – The New Earth

Question: When will God fulfill His promises to create a “new heavens and new earth”?

The short answer is after the 1,000 years of Revelation 20 (see Revelation 21:1). But to determine the date a prophetic event will happen, you need a starting point. Some people think they have calculated Jesus’ will come in 2030 or 2033, in spite of the fact that Jesus said repeatedly that no one knows (Matthew 24:36, 42, 44). If we did know (we don’t) we could estimate that the New Earth will be created around 3033.

God always does things at the right time.

“Thus says the LORD: “In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;” Isaiah 49:9

Who is God talking to here? Who has the power to create, or re-create, the earth? It’s Christ, and He’s the one God is giving “as a covenant to the people”.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time…” Ecclesiastes 3:11

“At the right time, I, the LORD, will make it happen.” Isaiah 60:22, NLT

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.” Habakkuk 2:3

God does things at the right time, not just for one person, or a group of people, but for every individual. Jesus will return when everyone has made their choice. When the 1,000 years are complete (including the millennial judgement of the wicked), Jesus will return to Earth for a third and final time. After the wicked are resurrected, judged, and destroyed (Revelation 20:11-15), then the Earth will be “restored” and made new (Revelation chapter 21).

This post concludes a journey from Genesis to Revelation, exploring God’s Work with Planet Earth, and how God has dealt with the human rebellion and fall into sin. But I don’t want to quit writing and so I will be going back to specific passages throughout God’s Word and exploring more in future posts.