Angels: Their Nature and Ministry

§13. REDEMPTION OF THE EARTH

But all the fruit of sin would not be destroyed if the earth were not redeemed from the curse. Peter says that as the earth once perished with water, so it will once again be changed by fire. After saying that the heavens and earth which are now, are reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, and that the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the works that are in the earth shall be burned up, he continues: “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13. ATNM 131.1

Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5. In Psalm 37:11 the same statement is made with an important addition: “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” And this proves that they do not inherit the earth in its present state, for Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” John 16:33. ATNM 131.2

Were the curse never removed from the earth, the works of the devil would not all be destroyed. Paul says that the saints now have the seal of the Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Ephesians 1:14. Both man and his dominion were brought under the curse of sin. Jesus died to redeem them both; the inheritance has been purchased, as well as man, and, as man, waits to be redeemed. But this cannot be while there is a sinner, or a remnant of sin, in it. ATNM 131.3

For six thousand years the earth has been polluted by Satan and his works, sin and sinners. But all these will be burned up; then the earth will be once more pure as it was when it first came from the hands of its Maker. The lake of fire which destroys the wicked is the same that burns up the last remains of sin and the curse, and purifies the earth. In Revelation 20 this lake of fire is introduced: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” ATNM 132.1

The next chapter continues the scene: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Then will Adam be restored to his own Paradise, in his own dominion, given to him at the beginning. He lost them by sin; the second Adam restored them by His obedience and sacrifice. Then all the saints possess the earth, their long-lost home. Then, and not till then, will they appreciate the full force of the Saviour’s words, “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” ATNM 132.2

This time will surely come. We have so long lived amid sin and rebellion, have so long been accustomed to vice and wickedness, have so long been shut away from heaven and God, that we cannot realize that it will ever be otherwise. Now, upon this earth, unrighteousness is popular, and “he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.” Isaiah 59:15. Here the righteous are vastly in the minority; but it is only here. When we remember the “innumerable company of angels,” who are yet loyal to their God, we see that the righteous are really in the majority. For a short time the devil has succeeded in defiling a small part, a very small part, of God’s creation. God has permitted him for a time to go on with impunity, till he has fully developed the awful consequences of sin and rebellion against the all-wise Creator. He will serve as an example to all the intelligent creatures of God, that they may see the utter folly of disobeying the Almighty. God will soon wipe out the blot which Satan has made on His universe, by the utter destruction of Satan and all his works. ATNM 133.1

Then will be fulfilled what God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. God “shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things.” Acts 3:20, 21. As righteous men and loyal angels behold the punishment of wicked men and devils, they can sing, “Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” Revelation 15:3. ATNM 133.2

When we look upon the awful condition of the world, we are sometimes tempted to question the wisdom of God in permitting such a state of things to continue so long. But we must remember that God is from everlasting to everlasting, the eternal One. Our world has existed but about six thousand years. Here is a man sixty years of age. It seems but a short time since he was a little boy; yet he has lived a one-hundredth part of the time that the world has stood. One hundred such men in succession would reach from the foundation of the world to the present time. Then how brief a period is the world’s history! At the longest it is but a moment compared with eternity. Think of the eternity that is past. Imagine the eternity to come. Remember that God’s purposes reach from eternity to eternity. Then why should it be thought a thing incredible by us that God should permit the devil to continue in his rebellion so short a time, till he has fully developed his character and the consequences of sin? ATNM 134.1

Again, this earth, as compared with all the worlds of God, is no more than a grain of sand in comparison with the whole universe. The sun alone is as large as thirteen hundred thousand worlds like ours. At the rate of thirty miles a day, it would take a man over two hundred and forty years to travel around it. The planet Jupiter is four hundred and ninety millions of miles distant from the sun. Its diameter is eighty-nine thousand miles, it being fourteen hundred times larger than the earth. The nearest fixed star is so far distant that it would require a ball moving at the rate of five hundred miles an hour, over four million five hundred thousand years, or seven hundred and fifty times the period which has elapsed since the foundation of the world, to reach it from this earth; many of these stars are thousands of times larger than our earth, and, probably, are all inhabited. ATNM 134.2

“Some astronomers have computed that there are not less than seventy-five million suns in the universe. The fixed stars are all suns, having, like our sun, numerous planets revolving around them. The solar system, or that to which we belong, has over thirty planets, primary and secondary, belonging to it. The circular field, or space which it occupies, is, in diameter, three billion six hundred million of miles, and that which it controls is much greater. The sun which is nearest neighbor to ours is called Sirius, distant from our sun about eight hundred and fifty-two millions of miles. Now if all the fixed stars are as distant from each other as Sirius is from our sun, or if our solar system be the average magnitude of those of all the seventy-five millions of suns, what imagination can grasp the immensity of creation? Who can survey a plantation containing seventy-five million of circular fields, each three billion six hundred million of miles in diameter? Such, however, is one of the plantations of Him who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, meted out heaven with a span, comprehended the dust in a measure, and weighed out the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance,-He who, sitting upon the orbit of the earth, stretches out heaven as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Nations to Him are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.”-Christian Almanac. ATNM 135.1

When we view the subject in this light, considering the infinitely small portion of creation which this earth really occupies, and the brief period of its history in sin, and remember that Satan’s work has been confined to this small sphere, and that even this will soon be restored to its original condition, and that the devil will be punished for his crimes, all is reasonable, plain, and consistent. It is only when we take a narrow, contracted view of the matter that we are led to question the wisdom of God’s dealings with this world. ATNM 136.1

Happy day! May it soon dawn! Then will be realized the glorious scene described in Revelation 5:13: “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Dear reader, when the present unhappy state of our world has passed away, when sin and wickedness are no more, when devils and wicked men have been destroyed for their crimes, when the earth shall bloom as the garden of Eden, “when the times of restitution of all things” come, may it be our happy lot to have a part in this joyful song of praise to God and the Lamb. Amen ATNM 136.2