p. 136 | THE NEW EARTH

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 25, 1880

THE NEW EARTH.

TESTIMONY OF EMINENT MEN.

Dr. Hitchcock, in "Religion and Geology," says on 2 Pet. 3:7-13:—

"The natural and most obvious meaning of this passage surely is, that the future residence of the righteous will be this present terraqueous globe, after its entire organized and combustible matter shall have been destroyed, and its whole mass reduced by heat to a liquid state, and then a new economy reared up on its surface, not adapted to sinful, but to sinless, beings; and therefore quite different from its present condition—probably more perfect, but still the same earth and surrounding heavens."

"The common opinion is, that entire combustion actually destroys or annihilates matter, because it is thereby dissipated. But the chemist knows that not one particle of matter has ever been thus deprived of existence; that fire only changes the form of matter, but never annihilates it."

Dr. Tholuck, a German Professor, said:—

"The glorification of the visible creation is more definitely declared in Rev. 21:1, although it must be borne in mind that a prophetic vision is there described. Still more definitely do we find the belief of a transformation of the material world declared in 2 Pet. 3:7-12. The idea that the perfected kingdom of Christ is to transferred to Heaven, is properly a modern notion. According to Paul and the Revelation of John, the kingdom of God is placed upon earth, in so far as the earth has part in the universal transformation. This exposition has been adopted and defended by most of the oldest commentators: e. g., Chrysostom, Theodoret, Augustine, Luther, Knox, and others. Luther says, in a lively way, ‘God will make not the earth only, but the heavens also, much more beautiful than they are at present. At present, we see the world in its working clothes; but hereafter, it will be arrayed in its Easter and Whitsuntide robes.’"

Dr. Griffin said:—

"It is scarcely credible that God should annihilate any of his work, much less so many and so glorious works. It ought not to be believed without the most decisive proof. On the other hand, it is a most animating thought that this visible creation, which sin has marred,—which the polluted breath of men and devils has defiled—and which, by sin, will be reduced to utter ruin,—will be restored by our Jesus,—will arise from its ruins in tenfold splendor, and shine with more illustrious glory than before it was defaced by sin.

"After a laborious and anxious search for light on this interesting subject, I must pronounce the latter to be my decided opinion. And the same, I find, has been the more common opinion of the Christian fathers, of the divines of the Reformation, and of the critics and annotators who have since flourished. I could produce on this side a catalogue of names which would convince you that this has certainly been the common opinion of the Christian church in every age, as it was also of the Jewish."

Dr. J. Pye Smith said:—

"If it be the purpose of God that the earth shall be subjected to total conflagration, we perfectly well know that the instruments of such an event lie close at hand, and wait only the divine volition to burst out in a moment. But that would not be a destruction; it would be a mere change of form, and no doubt, would be subservient to the most glorious results. ‘We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.’"

Dr. John Cummings says:—

"In the very heart of the chaos, there begins a Genesis of order, beauty, and peace. The old earth shall put off its ashen robes, and array itself in its bridal garments. The world, we are told, shall close as the world began—with Eden. An Eastern morn of beauty shall dawn upon the earth. Nature groans and travails in pain, waiting to be delivered. ‘Natura,’ or nature, about to bring to the birth, shall bring forth a new world. This is the hope of each new year. This is the joyous anticipation of the people of God. ‘We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.’" He adds:—

"I know that some have tried to establish the conclusion that the new heavens and new earth is merely a descriptive metaphor of blessedness and joy which shall be realized by all the people of God. If there were scriptural texts to prove that it really is thus to be construed, I should be the last to demur to such an interpretation. But when I see the language and the whole tenor of Scripture clearly and unequivocally indicating that the earth we now inhabit is to be restored, that the air we breathe is about to be regenerated, and that nothing is to be consumed in the last flame but that which the devil has introduced, and which man has accepted,—in short, that this world, which God made and pronounced good and beautiful at its first creation, is to be re-made and reconstituted at least as good and beautiful again,—I must adhere to the literal interpretation now so generally adopted. It appears to be most natural, and most readily to present itself to an unprejudiced reader. The apostle Paul evidently anticipated such a creation as this when he said, ‘For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, of which we speak.’ That expression, ‘the world to come,’ is literally the age or dispensation that is to come; and be assured that dispensation which is to come is to be upon the earth we now inhabit and under the air which we now breathe."

John Wesley said:—

"Thus said the Creator and the Governor of the universe: ‘Behold I make all things new!’ all which are included in that expression of the apostle, ‘a new heaven and a new earth.’ This is the introduction to a far nobler state of things such as it has not yet entered into the heart of man to conceive,—the universal restoration. For ‘we look,’ says the apostle, ‘for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.’"

Dr. Keith said:—

The Messiah "finally, when the present course of the world shall have ended, will abolish even the outward consequences of the fall, the evil which sin has occasioned, and, after the utter extinction of the kingdom of darkness, glorify his kingdom on the renovated earth."

Dr. Knapp, in his "Theology," said:—

"It cannot be thought that what is here said [in 2 Peter, 3d chapter,] respecting the burning of the world is to be understood figuratively, as Wettstein supposes; because the fire is here too directly opposed to the literal water of the flood to be so understood. It is the object of Peter to refute the boasts of scoffers, that all things had remained unchanged from the beginning, and that, therefore, no day of Judgment and no end of the world could be expected. And so he says that originally, at the time of the creation, the whole earth was covered and overflowed with water (Gen. 1), and that from hence the dry land appeared; and the same was true at the time of Noah's flood. But there is yet to come a great fire revolution. The heavens and the earth (the earth with its atmosphere) are reserved, or kept in store, for the fire, until the day of Judgment (verse 10). At that time, the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be destroyed by fervent heat, and everything upon the earth will be burnt up. The same thing is taught in verse 12. But in verse 13, Peter gives the design of this revolution. It will not be annihilation, but we expect a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness; that is, an entirely new, altered, and beautiful abode for man, to be built from the ruins of his former dwelling place, as the future habitation of the pious. (Rev. 21:1.) This will be very much in the same way as a more perfect and immortal body will be reared from the body which we now possess."

Calvin said:—

"I expect, with Paul, a reparation of all the evils caused by sin, for which he represents the creation as groaning and travailing."

The late Dr. Chalmers of Scotland, in beautiful and eloquent words, says:—

"Man, at the first, had for his place this world, and, at the same time, his privilege, an unclouded fellowship with God, and for his prospect, an immortality, which death was neither to intercept nor put an end to. He was terrestrial in respect to condition, and yet celestial both in respect to character and enjoyments."

"The common imagination that we have of paradise on the other side of death, is that of a lofty, aerial region, where the inmates float in ether, or are mysteriously suspended upon nothing; where all the warm and sensible accompaniments, which give such an expression of strength, and life, and coloring, to our present habitation, are attenuated into a sort of spiritual element, that is meager and imperceptible, and utterly uninviting to the eye of mortals here below; where every vestige of materialism is done away, and nothing left but certain unhealthy scenes, that have no power of allurement, and certain unhealthy ecstasies, with which it is felt impossible to sympathize. The holders of this imagination forget all the while that there is no necessary connection between materialism and sin; that the world which we now inhabit had all the solidity and amplitude of its present materialism before sin entered into it; that God, so far on that account from looking slightly upon it, after it had received the last touch of his creating hand, reviewed the earth, and the waters, and the firma

ment, and all the green herbage, with the living creatures, and the man whom he had raised in dominion over them, and he saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was all very good."

"They forget that, on the birth of materialism, when it stood out in the freshness of those glories which the great Architect of nature had impressed upon it, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. They forget the appeals that are everywhere made in the Bible to his material workmanship, and how, from the face of these visible heavens, and the garniture of this earth which we tread upon, the greatness and goodness of God are reflected on the view of his worshipers. No, my brethren, the object of the administration we sit under is to extirpate sin, but not to sweep away materialism. By the convulsions of the last day, it may be shaken and broken down from its present arrangement, and thrown into such fitful agitations as that the whole of its existing framework shall fall to pieces; and with a heat so fervent as to melt the most solid elements, may it utterly be dissolved. And thus may the earth again become without form and void, but without one particle of its substance going into annihilation. Out of the ruins of this sacred chaos may another heaven and another earth be made to arise, and a new materialism, with other aspects of magnificence and beauty, emerge from the wreck of this mighty transformation, and the world be peopled, as before, with the varieties of material loveliness, and space be again lighted up into a firmament of material splendor."