How Will Life on Earth, As We Know It, End?

        In order to answer the above question, we must first know how life all began.  The Bible makes it very clear that God created all life on earth without any imperfection whatsoever.  And that He created life in six, contiguous, twenty-four-hour days; it was a fiat creation.  There was no room whatsoever for evolution. 

        In Genesis 1 and 2 we read that God took six days to create earth and life on earth.  In Genesis 1:31 it says “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”  Here is how the Psalmist puts it in Ps. 33: 6, 9:  “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”  This is of course exactly what we read in Genesis 1.  After declaring everything to be ‘very good,’ God went on to create a memorial of His perfect six-day creation and He called this memorial the seventh day and He ‘blessed and sanctified’ the seventh day because He rested from His creative works. This ‘rest day’ became known as the Sabbath.  God also admonished that all people should observe this seventh day as a day blessed and sanctified.  The word ‘sanctified’ here refers to what is blessed and set apart by God for Holy use.  As all people honour the seventh day each week, they will not likely forget God as the Creator.  This, friends, is how life came about on the earth which God created.

        After making a perfect, beautiful, and flawless earth God made a gorgeous garden in which He placed the human pair, Adam and Eve.  In Genesis 2:8 we read that ‘the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. God then told the man that he could eat of all the trees (their fruit) in the garden except the of tree called ‘The tree of the knowledge of good and evil’; if he disobeyed and ate of that tree, God said that both he and his wife Eve would surely die.  Adam’s wife Eve was also told of the prohibition against eating of that particular tree, Genesis 3:2-3.  Again, after giving Adam and Eve this delightful garden of which they were the curators, (Gen. 2:15), God once more warned them of the prohibition not to eat of the one tree in the centre of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

        In the pleasantness of her task of caring for the Garden Eve wandered from her husband and unwittingly found herself gazing up at the fruit of the forbidden tree.  At that opportune moment Eve came face to face with the adversary, satan, called the old serpent, the dragon, the devil and the deceiver of the whole world.[i]  You may take up the story in Genesis 3:1-7.  In our previous article we explained how the devil came into being and his rebellion against His Creator with the ensuing consequence of being banned from living in God’s home, heaven.  In this encounter with the devil Eve learnt several things.  First, satan was the first liar, and he sought also to make God a liar.  Even Jesus made mention of satan being the father of lies, we find this in John 8:33. God had told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the forbidden tree, their disobedience would only bring their death. 

        However, satan countered that God was not being up front or honest with her; he then proceeded to titillated her desire for this esoteric knowledge, knowledge which God intended to hide from her, he assured her; satan went on to tell Eve that all of this hidden knowledge she would have access to only if she ate of the forbidden fruit.  Secondly, Eve irreversibly learnt that parleying with the devil, was never a win/win situation.  Humans unaccompanied by the divine presence can never withstand the devil’s sophistries.

        When we ministers confront satan we do so only in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit; we are no match for satan, but in Christ we can resist the devil and he will flee from us, James 4:7.  Eve, sadly, learnt this the hard way.  And now, having caused her husband to disobey God as well, together she and he brought sin, suffering, and death to the human race and to all life forms on earth.  How sad.  How very, very sad.  No longer would they enjoy peace, longevity and happiness.  The apostle Paul tells us that by “one man’s disobedience many were made sinners,” (Rom. 5:19) and in Romans 5:12 he says categorically, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”  Regrettably, our first parents learnt of the effects of sin very quickly when their eldest son murdered his brother!  Can you imagine, friends, how Adam and Eve must have felt as they looked upon the still, lifeless form of their second son?  How could Eve and Adam ever be the same again?

        The sorrow and grief of this first couple would surely have been insufferable had it not been for that promise given them in their original home when they met God soon after their disobedience.  And that promise is what the entire Word of God is all about.  Look at it in Genesis 3:15.  Here God tells the serpent that he would wound the heal of mankind, but that Man would eventually crush his head, that is, eventually the Man child (Jesus Christ) would destroy satan.  And in verse Gen. 3:21 we read where God clothed Adam and Eve in coats of skin.  This verse is actually telling us that one day God will give His life in Christ paying the penalty of death for the sin of all humanity.  And that He would once again clothe men with His righteousness.  This is the promise that kept Adam and Eve from total despair. 

        The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrated his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  When Adam and Eve heard that promise, they looked forward in the birth of every man child to the promise of the deliverer; this is called Messianism.  And this is why among most nations of antiquity and even today there is the concept of a Saviour.

        While it is true that this concept of a saviour is seen in the major religions of earth  as they struggle with the concept of ‘good and evil,’ gods and demons and therefor seek for some form of explanation or acceptable rationale,[ii] it is only in the Bible we find a simple and straightforward account of this ubiquitous account.  And it is only in the Bible that we find this concise account of earth’s and man’s origins along with that of angels, good and bad. It is amazing how this simple account of beginnings as found in Genesis has changed over the millennia.  A perusal of Arthur Cottrell’s A Dictionary of World Mythology[iii] will certainly entertain the reader no end.  Archaeology in the Near East has found that the Biblical facts have always proved accurate even when many of the ‘experts’ had scorned them[iv].

        Archaeologists and Anthropologists have sifted through the sands of time and have found one commonality that runs through all religions and ancient human history, and that is that “they nearly all believed in a creator God, of whom man is an imperfect image, and who literally and directly created the visible universe with his hands and fingers.”[v]  A good exposition of this is found in the video series by Thomas Bentley called, Have You Swallowed The Hook? View it in English at https://hangonthebestisyettocome.com/links-to-articles-page-6/#Cross%20Purposes.   As regards what will eventually happen to humanity evolutionists tell us, although not as vociferous as before, that life will carry on; the present is understood by the past.  If humans do not destroy themselves, or if there is no meteoric impact on earth, then there can be no end of humans on earth is the general feeling of the non-religious people.

        From what I have written above we understand that life on earth came about through the intervention of God.  Out of nothing He created our planet and made all life forms on earth.  But what does the Bible say about man’s future or destiny?  The Bible is clear and affirmative that live on earth as we know it will end at the second Coming of Jesus to this earth.  Jesus will come to fetch those who have accepted His invitation to accept His offer of pardon, forgiveness and restoration into the family of God. Those who do not accepted this free offer of pardon, forgiveness and restoration will remain sinful and rebellious against God and His guide to a new and restored life with Him. 

        John 14:1-3 give us this beautiful promise:  “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” And in the Revelation we read, ” And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”  Revelation 21:4

        And what about those who refuse to accept God’s offer of pardon, forgiveness and restoration? In the Psalms we read: “Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more.”  Psalms 104:35; and the Preacher tells us in the Proverbs: “As the whirlwind (storm) passes, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.”  Proverbs 10:25. So, the unrighteous or rejecters of God’s transforming grace in their lives will be no more.  They will be permanently destroyed.  This too is very sad and unfortunate because eternal life was free and ready to be given to anyone who sincerely came to God.  

        Friends, God tells us that iniquity will not rise up a second time, God will prevent that.  In Nahum 1:9 God promises to make an end of affliction and destruction and categorically says that it will not rise up a second time.  While the prophet Nahum was referring primarily to the affliction that the nation of Israel was enduring under the Assyrian Empire, the secondary application is referred to the fact that God will destroy sin and sinners and those that make war, and will forever inaugurate a golden age of peace, prosperity, and sinlessness which will last through-out eternity.

        Friends, my appeal to each one of you in this season of ‘Christmas’ when men almost everywhere celebrate the birth of Christ, is that you be are aware that the reason for this season (regardless of how it came to us) is the birth of our Saviour that he may extend the olive branch to each person on earth and restore him and her to the cosmic family of God, and that you therefore must “make your calling and election”[vi] sure before it is too late, for why must you die when the gift of live is only for the taking?  May God enable you to make a right choice before it is past time.  Merry Christmas, and may God bless you. 

        My next article will be on why God has to destroy this earth and sinners and start afresh?  Why did He destroy the first world? Couldn’t He, and can’t He just forgive sinful humans without destroying them?

[i] Rev. 12:9

[ii] Paul Carus, The History of the Devil and the idea of Evil, from the earliest Times to the Present Day. (La Salle, IL: Publisher: Open Court, 1974). Page 1

[iii] Arthur Cottrell, A Dictionary of World Mythology. Revised Ed.;(publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford; 1986)

[iv] David Marshall, The Battle for The Book, (Alma Park, Grantham, England: The Stanborough Press Limited for Autumn House Publications, 1991), pp. 9, 10, 17, 18, 44-49, 56-60

[v] Andrew Dickson White, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, vol. 1, (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1914), 1, 2.

[vi] 2 Peter 1:10

If there are any questions or comments please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at, ron.hende@gmail.com