The marvelous prophecy of 2 Peter 3:10 possibly speaks of such a nuclear reaction on a gigantic scale, when the earth’s “elements” will be “dissolved” (literally “unloosed” — 2 Pet. 3:12). Thus, although the earth did not begin with a “big bang,” as evolutionist astronomers allege, it will indeed end (in its present form) with a big bang! There will be a great noise and fervent heat, as the elements of earth disintegrate in a great explosion, converted into tremendous sound and heat energy, with light and radiation as well!
The earth and its heaven (i.e., atmosphere) will thus “flee away” (Rev. 20:11). This, however, is not their annihilation, but their purification! The very “dust of the earth” — that is, the very elements out of which God formed all things, even man’s body, in the primeval week of creation — was placed under the great curse (Gen. 3:17) when man sinned. The sedimentary crust of the earth is also the burial ground of vast numbers of animals fossilized in the great Flood, not to mention the human and animal bones buried since the Flood. All this evidence of suffering and death and the curse must be purged out, and the only way to do this is by disintegration of the very elements themselves.
The Earth Renewed
But then God’s great creative power will be exercised once again, as in the original creation!
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind (Isa. 65:17).
Behold, I make all things new (Rev. 21:5).
Because the [creation] itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:21).
Disintegration of the present earth, then, is soon to be followed by atomic integration of the new earth, as God causes the unleashed energy to reassemble into new material substances by His creative power. In the new (or, more literally, “renewed”) earth, there will be “no more curse” (Rev. 22:3), and everything in the creation will be “very good” once again (Gen. 1:31).
These will be the “times of [restoration] of all things” (Acts 3:21), and “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4). All of God’s purposes in the first creation will finally be accomplished in the new creation, one that will never again be interrupted or polluted by sin and death. “We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13). The new earth will last forever. “The new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord” (Isa. 66:22).
The new earth will actually be, therefore, the renewed earth, the old earth made new again. There will be certain significant differences, however. The first earth was suitable for human probation; the new earth is planned for full human occupation. Thus, in the primeval earth, there was a division between night and day (Gen. 1:4–5), but in the new earth, there will be “no night there” (Rev. 22:5). In the first earth, there was a division of land and sea (Gen. 1:9–10); in the coming earth, there will be “no more sea” (Rev. 21:1). That is, there will be human activity, everywhere and always, on the earth. “His servants will serve him” (Rev. 22:3).
Nor will this glorious service of the redeemed for their Savior need to be limited to the earth. Even though interstellar space travel will continue to be impossible in this present order of things (even the nearest star is four light-years away from the earth!), it will not be impossible in the future age. Our present bodies and all other physical systems are limited in movement by the ever-present gravitational and electromagnetic forces that govern their behavior. All believers will then, however, have new bodies that are spiritual bodies (1 Cor. 15:44), no longer subject to the constraints of these present forces, and, therefore, we will be able to fly throughout the universe unimpeded by gravity, lack of oxygen, or any other physical restriction of the present.
Yet these bodies will be as real and physical as was the body of Jesus Christ in His resurrection (Phil. 3:20–21). The resurrected Christ could move rapidly from earth to heaven and back again (John 20:17; Acts 1:9–11), could pass through closed doors (John 20:19), and yet was recognizable as in the same body He had possessed before His death and resurrection (John 20:27). He was capable of eating food (Luke 24:43), handling objects (Luke 24:30), and uttering speech (Matt. 28:19, 20); and our immortal bodies will be like His (1 John 3:2).
Perhaps it is appropriate, therefore, to look forward, in Christ, to exploring and developing God’s created universe extending into infinite space, throughout the ages continuing through eternal time. We can now only dimly see this wonderful life of the eternal future, and there is, no doubt, far more than we even dream of. One thing is certain, however! The infinite God who created the magnificent universe in which we live, surely has a glorious purpose in mind for those who were created in His image and whom He died to redeem. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4–7).
All of this, and no doubt far more, is promised in the future to those who have believed on Christ and have been redeemed by His shed blood and justified before God through His resurrection. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). We can say, with the apostle Paul, that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
Christ’s Final Coming
At Christmas, the Christian world rejoices in the glorious fact of the first coming of Christ, when “the Word was made flesh and dwelt [literally ‘tabernacled’] among us” (John 1:14), and when men “beheld his glory.”
But His tabernacling was for only a little while. He came down from heaven, and heaven was on earth, but earth would not receive her King, and the glory departed. “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things” (Eph. 4:10).
The earth would not receive Him, but it was made by Him, and His people long for Him. “For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19).
Therefore, there will be a second coming of Christ! “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16–17).
But even that is not the end, and the earth will continue in travail, groaning in pain to be delivered. The nations in the four quarters of the earth must gather to battle against God one more time. He came down to them out of heaven, first in grace and patience, but this time it will be said that “fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them” (Rev. 20:9).
Finally, there will be a third coming of Christ — a last coming of Christ, this time with His Holy City — to the earth, made new in its fiery cleansing and now ready to serve eternally as the home of the glorified Christ, with all His saints.
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them” (Rev. 21:3). This time His tabernacling among us will be forever, and His glory our unending light. We shall dwell with Him and serve Him in Immanuel’s land, world without end!
Does such a prospect seem unreal and far away? Just as His first coming was real, and His second coming is soon, so His last coming is sure! “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Heb. 6:19).
That is the real world, the eternal world, for which we must prepare