The Vital Earth There is a common impression
that the Bible is not really interested in the earth and what happens there. Its major concern is said to be "heaven",
the abode of the righteous. This is a great mistake. The revelation of God's purpose shows Him to be positively
concerned with the earth and the human race upon it. As He said himself: "Thus saith the Lord that created
the heavens....that formed the earth and made it....he created it not in vain: he formed it to be inhabited"
(Isaiah 45:18).
God is concerned with the earth as a whole, and the nations inhabiting it. The careers of great empires are
under God's control and their fate is predicted. The severe troubles of the modern world are all foreseen, and
so is their solution: the establishment by God of a new order in the earth as the only means by which the waywardness
of mankind can be controlled.
The Bible, far from being "other-worldly", is realistic and practical in its concern for the fate
of the whole human race. Its vision of the future is worldwide in its scope, for "the earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14).
Though this prophecy was uttered 6000 years before Christ, it represents the world-view of the whole Bible.
It is entirely relevant to our modern troubled condition and is unique in the history of our planet.
|
