And what his storms have blasted and defaced
For man's revolt, shall with a smile repair.”
Cowper's Task.
The above are only a few of many extracts which might be made, showing the faith of the church in past ages; but which are of no weight, only as they are in accordance with the harmony of scriptural testimony.
When man sinned, this earth was cursed for his sake. The Lord said to him, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” Gen. 3:17-19.
Such was the curse to which the whole [pg 346] creation was subjected because man sinned. “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,” Rom. 8:20. And this hope is for a removal of the curse thus inflicted, and a restoration of all things to their original condition.
As the earth was subjected to the curse at the time when man was made subject to death, the removal of the former would naturally be expected at the epoch of the fulfillment of the promise to the just: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death I will be thy plagues; O grave I will be thy destruction,” Hos. 13:14. And thus Paul testifies: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, ... Because the creature itself, also, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body,” Rom. 8:19, 21-23.
The removal of the curse removes also its consequences. Thus it is promised: “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle [pg 347] tree,” Isa. 55:13. “The inhabitant shall not say I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity,” Isa. 33:24. “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people will he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it,” Isa. 25:8. “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth,” Isa. 65:17. “And there shall be no more curse,” Rev. 22:3. “For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody,” Isa. 51:3.
The removal of the curse is called “the regeneration” (Matt. 19:28), “the times of refreshing,” and of “restitution;” which Peter places at the advent of Christ: “whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution[10] of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began,” Acts 3:21. He also places it at “the perdition of ungodly [pg 348] men,” which must synchronize with the epoch when the beast “goeth into perdition” (17:11), and “the remnant” are “slain with the sword,” (19:21); “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. Says Peter: “The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word [‘whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished’ v.6] are kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men.... But the day of the Lord will come, as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also; and the works that are therein shall be burned up.... Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,” i.e., “righteous persons”—Horsely, 2 Pet. 3:7-13. This harmonizes with the day that “cometh that shall burn as an oven,” when “all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly” shall be burned up, and become “ashes under the soles” of those on whom “shall the Sun of righteousness arise,” (Mal. 4:1-3); which must be the time intervening between the resurrection of the righteous and that of the wicked. This also harmonizes with the testimony [pg 349] of our Saviour, that when, “in the end of this world,” He “shall send forth his angels and gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; ... then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” Matt. 13:40-43.
The earth being cleansed, and all things made new, it will have been prepared for the “dwelling” of “righteous persons” (2 Pet. 3:13), who,—having “put on incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:53), and been “caught up ... in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17), where, constituting “the bride,” “the Lamb's wife,” they were “called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb” (19:7-9),—will descend from heaven to take possession. Thus John writes, that one of the angels said to him: “Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and he showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,” 21:9, 10.