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The Earth Desolate

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Sep 30, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 9.

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The Earth Desolate

By Allen Moon

By Allen Moon
GOD made the earth for the habitation of man. He beautified it for man's joy and happiness, and provided it with both the means of temporal sustenance and eternal existence. He filled the earth and sea and air with living creatures for man's delight and development in the exercise of dominion. The curse came upon all because of man's sin in yielding to the voice of the tempter.
The Lord revealed to His servants the prophets that the curse would finally result in the complete desolation of the earth; for it is written: "For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be a desolation." Jer. 4:27 (R. V.). And by "land" in the text, we understand the whole earth, and not any particular land. When this state of desolation is reached, it will be said, "The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly." Isa. 24:19.

The Earth Emptied.

Without divine revelation man can have but dim conception of the enormity of his sin or the ultimate calamity; but the language of Inspiration assures us that "the earth shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word." Isa. 24:3. How great this emptiness will be is described by another writer on the same subject. Looking forward prophetically, he said, "I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger." Jer. 4:25, 26. The means of subsistence provided by the Creator is cut off; the earth is no longer inhabitable by man or beast; for still another of God's messengers in speaking of this same event, and speaking for the Creator, said, "I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord." Zeph. 1:3.
Other testimonies to the utter destruction of every being on the face of the earth, in whose nostrils is the breath of life, are to be found in the word of the Lord. This is the culmination of that which came upon man and his inheritance by reason of his transgression of the law of his Maker; not for the original transgression alone, but because he continues in the way of disobedience, and the Lord is compelled to fight against him lest he destroy the faithful ones.

Eternal Destruction of Sin.

The prophetic word informs us, "I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that had worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." Rev. 19:19-21. (Not the fire of eternal torment, but the fire of destruction.)
This is a vivid description of the destruction of the rebellious in the last days, and it agrees with another record of the same event. After relating the condition in the last generation, the prophet says: "Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." Isa. 24:6. It is evident that the destruction foretold in these scriptures can not be disposed of by any figurative interpretation; but on the contrary, we find that New Testament writers, under the Spirit of Inspiration, treat these prophetic utterances as relating to impending events, and these may be regarded the true interpreters of the prophetic word. One of the writers said, "The heavens [atmospheric] and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:7.

At Christ's Coming.

The apostle had been speaking of the destruction of the earth by a flood of waters, which came according to the word of the Lord. And by the same word, he says, the earth is reserved unto fire. Another apostle, writing of the same event, in point of time, says it will be "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:7, 8.
How perfectly these testimonies of Christian writers agree with the words of the prophets, "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1. And again, "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many." Isa. 66:15, 16. And since the curse came upon the earth in consequence of man's sin, the fire that destroys the cause of the curse will likewise obliterate the curse, and God will again have a clean universe. Man might have been rescued from the wreck he had caused by the exercise of faith in the adorable One, but he has refused deliverance, the few excepted.
How fearful, then, are the consequences of man's having corrupted his way upon the earth; and still more dire the prospects, were it not that the divine Father extends mercy; and in connection with each of the predictions of judgment, the promise is made to those that accept, "But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day when I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. 4:2, 3. And it is said of the Redeemer, "He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day." 2 Thess. 1:10.