There are several verses in the Bible which say that the earth or land is forever. For example in the Psalms David says, "The righteous will inherit the land, and dwell in it forever"
How do those statements about an everlasting earth fit in with those other passages in the Bible that say the earth will be destroyed? For example Peter tells us that the heavens and earth which God created will be destroyed by fire. When Christ comes "the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up... destroyed..."
The important thing to notice is that, alongside of this warning, in the very next verse, there is a promise of a new heavens and a new earth
Before we move on with that line of study, we need to mention a fact that is sometimes pointed out in order to explain those passages that say the earth is forever. It concerns the usage and meaning of the word "forever" or
Sometimes the word "forever" is used in a sense that does not really mean eternal. For example under Mosaic law, certain slaves were not slaves in perpetuity, unless they requested to be. A slave who wanted to remain with his master could undergo a ceremony that made him a lifelong slave to his master. The word in the law was "forever" or
As another example, the offerings and sacrifices in the law of Moses were said to be perpetual ordinances "forever"
There is a strong case, therefore, for holding that the use of the word "forever" or "everlasting" or "perpetual" in regard to the earth or world, does not mean that the earth is eternal. I accept that as a valid point, and believe that our lesson could finish right there, and we would have answered the question and harmonized the passages beyond any argument.
However, without invalidating that point, I think there is a much better and more satisfactory answer, which we now
Something that is obviously very corruptible and temporary can be viewed as eternal if we take into account its transformation by destruction from something physical and temporal to something heavenly and eternal. The rest of this lesson, and the main point of it, centers on this principle of transformation by destruction of the temporal creation into
The Bible's clearest teaching about this principle concerns our bodies of flesh and blood. Paul uses a wonderful analogy of how a seed dies in order to become another "body". We are all familiar with what happens when we plant a seed. The seed dies. But in its place there is given something new and better, some kind of plant. Paul points out that the seed and the plant are quite different "bodies". The seed is not the plant, and the plant is not the seed. On the other hand they are not disassociated. There is a connection. The plant cannot be given, if the seed is not destroyed. Likewise our physical bodies must give way to our new immortal, glorious, and eternal bodies.
Now what Paul has said about our earthly bodies in particular, he seems also to view as true of "the whole creation"
So this earth will be completely destroyed, but through that destruction it will be transformed into "a new heavens and a new earth"
There is a popular teaching that the earth will not be completely destroyed but merely renovated. Although it is supposed that there will be a quite comprehensive clean up and transformation, it will still be the same earthly earth and sky. What we have studied above shows this to be a wrong view of
The correct view of the earth’s future is what we have been noticing in the scriptures. This temporal earth is but a seed which needs to undergo a death and destruction, in order to make way for, and be absorbed into, a new eternal heavens and earth. We can correctly think of the earth as eternal, only if we have in mind this transformation through destruction, and understand that the new heavens and new earth are not earthly but heavenly and eternal. The scriptures certainly have this eternal view, and therefore we should take it into account whenever the scriptures speak
Thus when the scriptures say that the earth abides "forever" and is "eternal", they are saying so with the transformation through destruction in mind. The earth is eternal, but not in its present form. For the present earth is temporal and so it must die, in order that the heavenly and
The Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ is the "firstfruits"
We all know that Christ did not create the earth in vain, neither did he live on it and die in vain. He is following his Father’s plan and purpose, and we can follow him. "The meek shall inherit the earth"