WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
God has plans to make the earth a place of peace and praise to Him, for ever.
The Bible begins with this statement in Genesis Chapter 1 - “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form, and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep”
Then in simple language the Book of Genesis goes on to tell us that stage by stage this earth was made habitable, and then filled with living things.
First came light, so there was day and night; next the clouds lifted and there was clear air between the sea and the sky; then land was raised up out of the sea to make dry land.
Now all was ready for living creatures.
In stage four God produced plants and trees and introduced the sunshine that they all need to make them grow; then came fishes, birds and animals; and finally `on the sixth day`
man was created and introduced to all the other wonders that God had made. At each stage we are told that “God saw that it was good”, so He had a definite plan in mind.
Man was special. Unlike the animals, he could consciously try to please God. Genesis 1v28 says - “so God created man in His own image . . . male and female He created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them `Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over . . . every living thing that moves on the earth.
God was asking man to manage the earth on His behalf, but as we shall see in a later study, man satisfied his own desires instead.
The result was that mankind and the earth came under God`s curse; and man became mortal, so that in due course he died.
God asks men & women to co-operate with Him, so when they refuse to do so God`s plans are set back, as it were, but they are not destroyed.
Many years later, when the Jewish nation was just beginning, they refused to go into the land that had been promised to their fathers (the land of Israel).
That was another setback, but God said that His purpose was still firm. He said - “All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD” (Numbers 14:21).
Hundreds of years after that, when the Jewish nation were living in the land, they were disobeying God again.
Things became so bad that the Assyrian army was sent to take Northern Israel into captivity.
But God`s plans stayed in place. He repeated that the time would come when “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD . . . “ (Isaiah 11:9)
Later still, once more the pattern was repeated.
Sins amongst the Jews who had been left in the South became so bad that the Babylonian army was sent to take them into captivity too.
And yet once more the promise was repeated – “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea”.
(Habakkuk 2:14). This will be what the Bible calls `the Kingdom of God`.
Chapter 11 of Isaiah starts with a promise that Someone very special would come to make this possible.
He is described as “a shoot out of the stump of Jesse”. Jesse was the father of King David, who set up a kingdom for God in Israel during Old Testament times.
The promise was that one day a descendant of David would be born, who would make God`s long-term plans come true.
Sure enough, the time came when that special child was to be born, and before his birth his mother was told - “You shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High.
And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) for ever and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33).
Now we can see why Jesus, when he began teaching, told his followers to pray – “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
The next study will show how clear promises about this were made to people throughout the Bible – people such as Noah, Abraham, David and the Apostles.
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What The Bible Says
