WHERE IS THE BETTER LAND?
By E. P. Marvin
It has been the belief of very many of the wisest and best of God's people, from apostolic to present times, that the saints will dwell eternally upon this earth regenerated, and under the regenerated heavens. They have left their testimony on record as a rich legacy of faith and a bright pole-star of hope for us. It seems to me that this belief is founded clearly and surely on the teachings and promises of God's word. First let us note that those passages that speak of "new heavens and a new earth," literally mean a renewed heaven and a earth, and not a system made of new materials, just as the "new creature in Christ" is a renewed man. Apply this interpretation to the following Scriptures: Ps. 103:5; Isa. 66:22; 1 Sam. 11:14; Heb. 1:10-12; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1, 5. That this renewed earth shall be our eternal home seems to be plainly and repeatedly declared in Revelation. Study the whole scope of Isa. 35 and 60, and Ps. 37. Study especially Ps. 37:3, 9, 11, 18, 29. Of this last verse, Dr. J. A. Alexander says: "The righteous shall inherit the land, possess the land of promise, and dwell securely and in peace, forever, to eternity, upon it." Study also Eccl. 1:4; Isa. 66:22; Eze. 37:24, 25; 1 John 3:8; and Matt. 5:5. Here we plainly read that "the earth abideth forever"—"It shall remain before me"—"They shall dwell in the land"—Christ came "to destroy the works of the devil"—that is the evil, and not the good works of God—and that "the meek shall inherit the earth." The words translated earth and land in both Hebrew and Greek, are words of a positive and literal meaning. They are used of the original creation just as of the new creation. The prophetic terms of Christ's first coming to the earth and dwelling here with his people are no more clear and literal than those of his second coming in glory. If we spiritualize and fritter away such passages as Luke 1:32, 33, we must not wonder if Jews and skeptics do the same with verse 31 and other similar prophecies. The expectation of going to a Heaven in some distant, dreamy part of the universe when we die, to abide in a ghostly state until we return for our bodies, and then bid a final farewell to earth, is a modern novelty. Human aircastles and seraphic fancies concerning the locality of the better land are vain and unsatisfactory. One word of God and one stone founded on the eternal rock is worth more than all. "Correct my writings," says Augustine, "not by your own opinion, but by the divine word." God said to Abraham: "The land which thou seest will I give to thee and to thy seed forever;" the land which thou seest, and not some distant, unknown sphere. Abraham possessed only a tent, an altar, and a tomb in the promised land. His seed, David's greater Son, has never reigned there yet, nor have his fellow-heirs possessed it. The millennial period will be the transition and prelude to the heavenly and eternal state. The testimony of Scripture accords with reason and desire in this matter. We naturally love our native land, and this earth is the place of our double nativity. Abraham desired a better or a renewed country—or native land, as the word signifies. No other place can ever be our native father-land. "There is no place like home," and we are linked to this earth as we never could be to another sphere. It is also fitting that here where sin has reigned unto death, grace should reign unto life by Jesus Christ. It is also the appropriate reward of our glorious Redeemer, that here where Christ was humiliated even unto death, he should be exalted in visible majesty and glory over a regenerated creation. Here where he was "despised and rejected of men," he must be honored and accepted as the rightful ruler of the earth. The world that gave him a cross and a crown of thorns must yet give him a throne and a crown of glory, and before him every knee must bow. As he now dwells by his Spirit in the renewed soul, so he must yet dwell personally in the renewed earth. Satan must not have a permanent victory here. He must be vanquished on the very ground of his transient victory. The "Stronger than the strong man armed" must bind him and spoil his goods. The Nobleman having received the kingdom returns. "Thou art coming, thou art coming,
Jesus, our beloved Lord;
Oh, the joy to see thee reigning,
Worshiped, glorified, adored!" And God himself is linked to this earth as a monumental globe, distinguished from all others, by the incarnation, humiliation, suffering, death, and resurrection of his Son. If we prize, and preserve with monumental art those spots that commemorate grand historic scenes and characters, how much more will God guard and preserve the globe that has witnessed tragic, wonderful, and ever memorable scenes of redemption. We must remember that this earth has been baptized and consecrated by the blood and agony of the Son of God. No, God will not allow it to explode and become an unsightly cinder and pass away "like the baseless fabric of a vision," but still holding its Gethsemane, its Calvary, and its Olivet, he will keep it eternally in the memory and the sight of the whole intelligent universe. It will abide forever as the monumental globe of the universe. "But is it large enough for the heavenly inhabitants?" Suppose all earth's populace to the present time, to have been ninety billions, all could stand, occupying six square feet, on the island of Ceylon or the peninsula of Nova Scotia, and all could be buried in New York State. The peninsula of Arabia is large enough for the New Jerusalem, and its mansions would accommodate all these myriads, even if all were permitted to enter, and there would yet be room to spare. "But is this earth good enough?" It was "very good" at first, and it will be still better when renewed. Adam was satisfied with the Paradise lost, and we shall be with the Paradise regained. As all creation has shared in the heavy curse, it must share in "the exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Soul, body, and all creation, even the nature of the brute creation, must be regenerated and restored. Study Rom. 8:21, 22, and Isa. 11:6, 7. There is no evil in matter itself. Extract the poison of sin from humanity; destroy them that pollute the earth; let fire purge the earth as once water did; let God's renovating hand pass over it, and it shall, as if by magic, become the masterpiece of all fair and good creations; light, air, earth, and sea filled with all beautiful and precious things, a fit place for the tabernacle of God, with his redeemed people. The bright light of the shekinah glory, seen but seldom in the past,
"Like angels' visits, few and far between,"
shall descend with the New Jerusalem and cast a halo of eternal light over the scene, brighter than seven suns, and yet as mild and sweet to our clarified and immortal vision as the morning. The "inheritance laid up in heaven" is ready to be thus revealed to us. The New Jerusalem, the "place prepared for us," will come down from God out of Heaven to us, and we shall "reign on the earth." Jehovah's tabernacle shall be with men. With such a prospect and destiny before us let us not "mind earthly things." Let new-born desires and affections expel the old. Earth's honors, pleasures, and possessions should fade away before the golden glories of this heavenly country. Cherish the happy pilgrim spirit, like the patriarchs who "saluted" these promises afar off and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth. As the shell ever sings of the sea, so let your heart sing of the coming glory. "My life flows on in endless song,
Above earth's lamentation;
I catch the sweet but far off hymn,
That hails the New Creation."
—Rev. E. P. Marvin (Presbyterian).