Creation‘s Destiny in Jesus Christ

All hope centres on Jesus for “all things were created by him and for him” (Col 1: 16). Jesus’ cross, resurrection and future return point towards God’s wonderful purposes for His creation.

“It would not be wise... to speculate... how the biblical and scientific accounts of reality correspond... The general promise of the renovation and transformation of nature is plain... God’s material creation will be redeemed and glorified.”
John Stott [1]

Here we explore what the Bible says about the destiny of life on earth. We must be cautious as there is much that is unk nown. First, we set out two ‘balances’, by affirming that creation is both physical and spiritual, and holding together both judgement and restoration in our view of the future.

Materialist Reductionism

Science observes the present condition of reality: all things decay.
Two common responses to this observation are ‘reductionism’ and ‘body-soul dualism’.

Reductionism lacks the humility of true science. It says reality is ‘nothing but’ what man can measure, that when an individual dies he is finished, that life on earth began by chance and, by extrapolation from the Sun’s present condition, will end in about 5 billion years. In short, it says that decay and the law of entropy will ultimately prevail.

But Jesus showed a deeper law, for his “body did not see decay” (Acts 2:31). A ‘watchmaker’ deity might start a world running and leave it to roll along on its own way until it runs down. But our Creator sustains his creation today, and promises for tomorrow the “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21).

Wound up once and then left to run down?

OR

Held in His Hand, today and tomorrow.

Body-soul Dualism

Many religions give another response; they regard the body as inherently corrupt and temporary, in contrast to an inherently immortal soul which they aspire to free from the body for a non-material eternity. But biblically we are made and redeemed as integrated physical-spiritual beings, and our future hope is not a ghostly ‘afterlife‘, but bodily resurrection. One reason for the common confusion about this is that New Testament language can sometimes seem to support body-soul dualism.

Here are three examples:

1. The apostle Paul uses contrasting pairs of words like ‘heavenly-earthly’ and ‘spiritual-fleshly’ as metaphors for the contrasting pair ‘godly-ungodly’. In this way, spiritual conditions such as envy and selfish ambition can be described as ‘fleshly’ (Gal 5:19).

“What Paul says about ‘flesh’ ... must not be taken as applying to the physical body [which] will one day be redeemed from mortality and invested with glory.”
F. F. Bruce [2]

“In Paul’s epistles, the word ‘spiritual’ never means non-physical but ‘consistent with the character of the Holy Spirit’ ... a physical body raised to the perfection for which God originally intended it.”
W. Grudem [3]

2. The ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ appears in Matthew’s Gospel as a synonym for what is referred to elsewhere as the ‘Kingdom of God’, which is the rule of God. Sometimes the word ‘heaven’ on its own is used loosely as a shorthand form for the same concept.

3. There can also be confusion between the two stages of our future hope; firstly the interval after death when we are ‘with Christ’ but not yet resurrected, and secondly the eternal state after our bodily resurrection. If we talk of Eternity as ‘going to heaven’ or ‘up there’, we leave a door open to body-soul dualism.

“Heaven [is] not the ultimatum... a disembodied spirit never can be perfect until it is reunited to its body. ”
C. H. Spurgeon [4]

“What is commonly described as ‘heaven’ in scripture is the intermediate state ... Heaven in an eternal sense is going to be heaven on earth. Heaven on Earth - that is where we shall spend our eternity, and not as disembodied spirits.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones [5]

A biblical view of Creation

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth, all things visible and invisible. The physical and spiritual aspects of creation are integral and enduring parts of His design (Ps 104). The problem is not any inherent defect in creation, but rebellion in high places.

Satan led many led many of God’s angels into rebellion, was cast down from the Heavens to earth, and then plotted to ruin God’s creation. Eve and Adam and were deceived into also rebelling against God. As they were made to be earth’s royal family, so their declaration of independence from God brought His curse upon the earth.

God’s plan - the mission to Earth

God’s solution is that the eternal Son comes into His own creation as a man, and bears God’s curse upon the Cross. The implication for mankind is clear; ‘in Christ’ is salvation, outside Him remains the penalty of sin. But what does it mean for the rest of creation? God’s plan is “through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on Earth or things in Heaven” (Col 1: 20).

‘Apocalypse’ has in English acquired a negative meaning, but is from the Greek word for ‘revelation’. God’s work of art is the church and the kingdom, set upon the earth, and God’s restoration project is being revealed.

“God will restore the present fallen world to perfect condition”
John Calvin [6]

At the heart of Romans, Paul wrote this: "The creation waits in eager expectation for the Sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration ... in hope, because the creation itself will be liberated from bondage to decay, and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God" (Rom 8:19-22).

“These words of Paul point not to the annihilation of the present material universe on the day of revelation, to be replaced by a universe entirely new, but to the transformation of the present universe so it will fulfil the purpose for which God created it.”
F. F. Bruce [7]

There is a unity in biblical truth, that ‘all things’ will be ‘destroyed’, literally ‘loosened’ (luomenôn, 2 Pet 3:11), ‘restored’ (Acts 3:21) and ‘renewed’, literally ‘born-again’ (palingenesia, Matt 19:28). Regarding the ‘end of the world’, what ends is not creation’s identity, but its present cursed condition or state, described by Paul as “bondage to decay” and “frustration”. Stott suggests that ‘frustration’ in this context means “not fulfilling the purpose for which God intended it”.

Continuous identity + Change of state = Hope

This change will not come by evolutionary progress. Nor will it come through an annihilation and replacement of creation, as the Bible makes clear in a number of places.

1. God’s decree establishes the earth forever (Ps 78:69, 148:1-3). God owes nothing to any creature. He chose to destroy by the Flood, and afterward He chose to make “an everlasting covenant between God and all the living creatures of every kind on the earth” (Gen 9:16), “never again will I destroy all living creatures” (Gen 8:21). The promise in the latter text is not limited to floods.

2. God’s honour forbids that satan’s plot should finally succeed. God’s creation is not lost, for “the mystery of his will [is] to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Eph 1:10).

3. God’s curse upon the earth (Gen 3) was because of Adam, so just as Christ lifts the curse from Adam, it lifts also from the earth.

“Through the redemptive work of the second man [Jesus] the fall’s entail is broken not only for man himself but [also] for the creation.”
F. F. Bruce [9]

“The animal and material creation, cursed for man’s sake, will be delivered by Christ.”
C. I. Scofield [8]

4. God’s judgement is ‘good news’ for the creatures on earth; “they will sing before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth” (Ps 96:12, Ps 145:21, Rev 5:13).

“In the coming glory the entire creation is destined to share ... it means the animals ... the rivers and mountains, it means the earth itself.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones [10]

“The whole animated creation shall be delivered, not by annihilation,
annihilation is not deliverance."
John Wesley [11]

The End of the World ?

With such testimony for deliverance and not annihilation, how is it that some Christians have come to believe that God will destroy His earth? One reason is that there are some biblical texts which have often been so interpreted. The most commonly cited is probably the following: “The world (kosmos) of that time perished (apôleto) by water ... the heaven and earth of this time is stored up for fire, the day of destruction of ungodly men” (2 Pet 3:6-7)

Peter says the world (kosmos) was ‘utterly destroyed’ (apôleto) by the Flood.

Yet he had read in scripture that even outside the Ark, fish and seeds survived (Gen 8:11). He is perhaps using terms like ‘kosmos’ (generically, an ‘arrangement’)to refer to a passing state of creation.

In fact, Peter mention three states of creation;

1. “the world of that time”, (2 Pet 3:6) which is
   “the ancient world” before the Flood (2 Pet 2:5);

2. “the present heaven and earth” (2 Pet 3:7);

3. “a new heaven and a new earth” (2 Pet 3:13).

New Testament view of the Ages of creation

In the Bible, ‘the end’ refers to “the end of the age” (eg Matt 13:40, 24:3), which is followed by the beginning of “the age to come” (Mark 10:30) and an Eternal time.

“It is not the substance or essence of creation that is brought to an end (for he who established it is true and constant) but ‘the fashion of this world passeth away’, that is, those aspects in which transgression has been committed.”
Irenaeus (2nd century church leader) [12]

Some commentators agree that creation will not be annihilated but, by pseudo-scientifically identifying Judgement Fire with volcanic lava, comets or H-bombs, they suggest that it will physically melt the surface of the earth. The problem with these theories is that biblical Judgement Fire has qualities unlike any of these fires, for it tests (1 Cor 3:13); it discriminates (Mal 4:1-3, 2 Thess 1:7); it reaches into ‘heaven’ (2 Pet 3:7) and destroys the spiritual Powers (Rev 20:10).

The ‘elements‘ (stoicheia) which this Fire ‘melts’ (2 Pet 3:10) are not the kind that you see on a Periodic Table! When the word ‘stoicheia’ is used in the Bible (Col 2:8,20, Gal 4:3,9, Heb 5:12) it always refers to non-material entities. In 2 Peter it may refer to evil ‘heavenly powers’.

What kind of fire is this? God’s fire amazed Moses precisely because it burned within a bush without consuming the bush (Exodus 3:2). Peter had seen this Fire upon the disciples‘ heads at Pentecost, preceded by a rushing noise (Acts 2:1-4), and he knew a greater ‘roar’ would accompany this Fire when it fills heaven and earth on Judgement Day (2 Pet 3:10). At that time “the earth will be laid bare” (literally ‘discovered, found’ heurethêsetai 2 Pet 3:12) suggesting a world-wide judicial scrutiny.

This view fits the letter’s context. Peter was dealing with men of unrestrained lusts (2 Pet 3:3). The prospect of an indiscriminate universal annihilation would simply spur them on to sin faster ‘for tomorrow we die’! Instead, Peter warns them of a discriminating judgement.

There are other texts which some have interpreted as teaching annihilation. Psalm 102 says that, compared to God, who “remains the same”, Heaven and Earth are like an old garment (Ps 102:26). The point here seems to be a contrast between creator and creation. Paul used a similar metaphor for becoming a Christian - ‘putting off’ old clothes (Eph 4:22). Under the conditions of the present age the creation wears a decaying garment.

“Luther used to say that the world is now in its working clothes, and that by and by it will be arranged in its Easter garments of joy.”
C. H. Spurgeon [13]

References to a ‘new heaven and earth’ are often taken to imply replacement rather than transformation. Also apocalytic language is easily misinterpreted. In the New Testament, when references were made to the Old Testament, it could be assumed that the original readers would know the context. For example, the hope for a ‘new heaven and earth’ referred to in Rev 21 and 2 Pet 3 draws from Isaiah’s prophecies (e.g. Isa 65:17-25) in which there is life on earth, the ‘peacable kingdom‘, after the cataclysmic judgement.

Resurrection and Glorification

Now we can look at Jesus, the pioneer and pattern for the new creation, for our resurrection (1 Cor 15:49) and for the renewal of the earth. It is an historical fact that Jesus died, and that the man born at Bethlehem did not suffer decay (Acts 2:31), but was raised from death (1 Cor 15:12), physically left the tomb, and still bears the scars of His wounds (John 20:27).

There is then a continuity between the crucified and risen Jesus, one body both before and after the resurrection. However, he was not merely resuscitated, or raised like Lazarus who died again. In Jesus, death is destroyed, and the body is changed; ‘glorified’. Similarly, the transition from old to new creation is not a loss of identity, but a change of state, with physical continuity and change.

Here are three illustrations:

1. Today, "if anyone is in Christ Jesus he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor 5:17). When someone is ‘born again’ they do not vanish, to be replaced by a different person, rather they are changed;

2. “Jesus ... will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil 3:21, Romans 8:11, 1 Cor 15:37), indicates change rather than replacement.

3. The special case of those who are alive when Jesus returns makes it clear that our original bodies are not discarded and replaced, but ‘changed’, for Paul says “we shall not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor:15:51);

Man’s way is to give up on what is spoilt; to throw it away and get a replacement. God’s way of going from old to new is to restore what has been spoilt; to make it new. This applies to us, and to the rest of creation, for “the old order of things has passed away ... I am making every-thing new!” (Rev 21:4-5). The ‘new creation‘ is the original creation renewed.

“There is going to be both continuity and discontinuity in the regeneration of the world, as in the resurrection of the body.”
John Stott [14]

“God will one day change our bodies and then he will change this world itself. We expect to see this world that is now full of sin turned into a paradise, a garden of God. In this very place, where sin has triumphed, ... grace will much more abound.”
C. H. Spurgeon [15]

“We shall live in the body, on this renewed, renovated, regenerated earth.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones [16]

The Return of King Jesus

Christ is coming to reign over all the earth. There will be a miraculous meeting and welcome at his homecoming. The young church at Thessalonika seems to have worried that only those “still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord” would see the Kingdom. Paul reassured them that those who died would be raised up from their graves and together with those still alive be “caught up ... in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:15 & 17).

A popular belief is that this refers to a permanent ‘escape’ from earth. But a different picture emerges from the text. The ‘coming’ (parousia) alludes to an ancient custom in which, as John Balchin puts it, "an official visits a city ... when [he] got near, all the citizens would stream out and line the road to welcome him". Also, the word here translated ‘meeting’ (apantêsin) is only used twice elsewhere; once when the vigilant guests go out to meet the bridegroom to escort him into the feast (Matt 25:6), and again when the Christians of Rome go along the road some distance to meet Paul and escort him into their city (Acts 28:15).

When Jesus comes again (Acts 1:11) His people will go out to meet him and join in His triumphal procession as returns to His earth. The Second Coming is a ‘coming’ not a ‘going’!

God’s Eternal Reign on Earth

“I saw the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God ... Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them” (Rev 21:2-3)

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever.” (Rev 11:15).

Christ’s kingdom on earth is not temporary. This is the inheritance promised to Jesus (Ps 2:8), and His co-heirs such as Abraham (Rom 4:13). "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt 5:5), and "they will reign on the Earth" (Rev 5:10).

“the restoration of the whole creation, not only to what it was before, but to something yet more glorious ... this is not temporary, it is final, it is full, it is permanent.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones [17]

This is beyond imagination. The Bible gives pictures. To pick out a few, it speaks of an end of pain, peace among all creatures (Isaiah 2:4, 11:6-9), healed lands and waters and a renewed diversity of living creatures. Ezekiel writes of “trees of all kinds whose fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezek 47:6-12).

“Christians should know what their hope is and draw from it power ... and direction for living"
J. I. Packer [18]

How does the Future affect the Present ?

God’s reign is both ‘now’ and ‘not yet’. Creation is not yet liberated, and ‘groans’ with the church for Christ’s advent (Rom 8:22-23, 1 Cor 15:58). Biblical hope helps us in very practical ways.

• An awareness of God’s purposes gives us direction.
• Biblical hope dispels false hopes. There cannot be any ‘new age’ of perfect harmony, until Jesus returns and ushers in “the age to come” (Mark 10:30).
• When the Powers of destruction seem overwhelming, despair is overcome by faith that all things are in God’s hands.
• An expectation of Jesus‘ return reminds us that we are accountable to God. Jesus compared himself to a king who goes away on a journey, and later returns to his kingdom (Lk 19:15). Are we good stewards of His dominion? We are called to watch (exercise discernment) and pray, urgently seeking for God’s reign to be a reality in our lives.

And God’s goodness goes even futher than hope in the future. King David said that he would have fainted if he had not seen the goodness of the Lord while he was still alive. The kingdom advances, and first-fruits of the rule of God, the new creation, are with us today (Heb 6:5).

“It is God’s purpose that his supernatural kingdom be spread in this natural world.”
Colin Urquhart [19]

“[Since] there is going to be total redemption in the future, not only of man, but of all creation, the Christian ... should be the man who, with Gods help ... is treating nature now in the direction of the way nature will be then. It will not now be perfect, but it must be substantial, or we have missed our calling. ... a substantial healing here and now, between man and nature, and nature and itself.”
Francis Schaeffer [20]

Footnotes

Suggestions for further reading:

Credits

This brief was prepared for the John Ray Initiative by John McKeown. Thanks are due to Dean Ohlman, Dr Ron Elsdon, Rev Dave Bookless, the JRI Trustees and others for their helpful comments.

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