Daily Archives: October 7, 2026

39 BY THE WAY…WILL GOD DESTROY THIS PLANET?

Bible Study, ,

What does God intend to do with this planet that we messed up? Will He dump it and make a new one? What does His word say?

One thing God never does is resort to plan B. He never has a plan B. One thing God always does is restore…which is a part of His plan A.  He restores everything that is broken. 

First question… What do I mean by restore?  

God does not discard what is broken and start again. He removes what has caused the brokenness and sets everything back in order as He planned in the beginning. 

The amazing thing about God’s plan is that restoration was included in His plan A before anything was ever broken. From His eternal perspective, brokenness and restoration were already accomplished before He spoke one grain of sand into existence.  

After His first pair defected, He told the tempter who caused the destruction, what would happen to him. 

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There…the seed of God’s word was already sown…just minutes or hours after the crown of His creation fell right out of His plan. 

We have already discussed at length…in many posts…over many months…the way that God restores the broken sinner. 

However, man and his environment are an integral part of God’s plan A for His people. Like love and marriage, humans and the earth go together. God always intended for His human family to live on His planet, prepared and perfected for them,  to manage it for Him in partnership with Him. 

The second part of God’s plan is not so familiar to us. God’s design was for heaven and earth to be one environment where He and His creatures would live together in perfect harmony. Once His people were perfected in righteousness through their loving obedience, heaven would join the earth to become one eternal home for all. 

Throughout Scripture, through all the processes of His revelation…tabernacle and temple in symbolic form, and eventually His Spirit in us…God showed us that His desire was to make His dwelling with us. The final stage would be the restoration of the earth to its former perfection. 

God never intended for man to live with Him in heaven. He intended to live with mankind in a united heaven and earth. 

Let’s see what the Bible says. 

Both Paul and John saw this end of the process clearly. Wrote Paul…

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭19‬-‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Paul said nothing about the earth being discarded and a new one created. He spoke about the earth being liberated… delivered…exempted from moral, ceremonial, or mortal liability…set free. When man fell from his position of son to slave, the earth was also enslaved to the consequences of man’s sin. The natural world was corrupted with him. 

“To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The outcome, for mankind, was a hostile environment… where sweat, toil, and hard labour would be his lot. 

Now, how can a restored human creation continue to live eternally on a planet at enmity with them. Plan A must be implemented completely. 

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Very good! Perfectly functional! Nothing broken…nothing missing…everything working together in harmony…man, plants, and creatures all cooperating in a perfect system. That’s how it was…and that how it will be. 

Second question… How will God restore?

If Jesus created the universe…

“…in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬

…and upholds His creation by His powerful word…

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word….”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV

…then He will surely also cleanse and restore His broken planet by the same creative, powerful word. 

“Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭23‬:‭29‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Peter explained the process in greater detail…

“By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly…But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”

‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭7‬, ‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We need to unpack what Peter actually wrote… not what we think. 

The New King James Version is a more accurate translation than the NIV or the NLT. 

“But the day of the Lord (the specific moment in time set by the supreme authority) will come as a thief (the who steals) (“in the night”…not in the text), in which the heavens (that which is lifted up…not necessarily or literally “heaven” but…in context…the 

“elements”*) will pass away with a great noise (a bang), and the elements* will melt (crack, break up, dissolve) with fervent heat; both the earth (the solid part) and the works (toil) that are in it (what caused the toil) will be burned up.”

‭‭II Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

*“In the Bible, the word “elements” translates from the Greek word stoicheia, which generally means fundamental principles, basic building blocks, or rudimentary components. 

“Meaning: In this eschatological (end-times) context, it refers to the basic physical components or material building blocks of the natural universe—often interpreted as the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars) or the fundamental matter making up the earth and sky. It signifies that the entire physical created order will undergo a radical, fiery dissolution and renewal. 

“Rudimentary Religious Teachings

Where it appears: Galatians 4:3, 4:9, and Colossians 2:8, 2:20 (“elements of the world” / “weak and beggarly elements”).

Meaning: In Paul’s letters, the term refers to the elementary or primary teachings of worldly or legalistic religion. This included formalistic rituals, man-made traditions, or Jewish ceremonial laws that kept people in spiritual immaturity and bondage before the full revelation of Jesus Christ.”

(Google AI)

Both Paul and Peter, together, give us the picture of what will happen when God restores creation to its original perfection. By the power of His word, Jesus will remove and destroy everything that intruded at the fall…the dysfunction of the physical planet…and the world’s  systems (elements) that control  by being lifted up (elevated…probably above God’s word) and distorted by selfishness and greed. 

The entire universe will be purged of the effects of sin and left in its perfect and pristine condition as at creation. Then…finally…

“Now I saw a new (fresh) heaven and a new (fresh) earth, for the first (former) heaven and the first (former) earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New (with respect to age) Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭19‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Holy City, the Bride, the church…perfected through Jesus…forever joined to the Bridegroom…in the environment of God’s presence…

Heaven and earth, the spiritual and the natural…reunited…as God had planned from the beginning…with God and His people together

as one forever family. 

38 BY THE WAY…WHY MUST WE PRAY GOD’S WORD?

Prayer, ,

Although prayer is a universal practice…since we humans are always in need of someone or something higher, bigger, and more powerful than ourselves on whom to call…real prayer is not an attempt to manipulate God. Real prayer is interacting with the Father…engaging in family business. 

Jesus taught us, first of all, to address God as Father, and to pray as family members. 

“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Real prayer is firmly based on our relationship to God as Father. There is no religion on earth, not even the most popular and aggressive religion bent on taking over the world, that dares to call its god, “father “. Yet Jesus came to reveal that name to us, specifically because His own people had forgotten their intimate “father/son” relationship with God through their stubborn rebellion. Their wayward behaviour had resulted in a distorted view of God as a strict disciplinarian rather than a loving Father. 

Yet, God still treated them as His beloved children. 

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called to him, the farther he moved from me, offering sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning incense to idols.”

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve…?

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬ ‭

“Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?”

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

So, Jesus prayed…

“I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Prayer is also a partnership. God’s policy is to involve His earthly offspring in the administration of His world. He created the first pair with a mandate to manage His creation. 

“Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This delegated authority demands constant interaction with heavenly headquarters…called prayer. It stands to reason,  then, that we, who are the junior partners, should carry out the instructions we receive from our heavenly authority. 

God has given us specific ways to connect with Himself, to know what He wants us to do, and to have the capacity to do it. Again…it’s called “prayer”. He has given us His Spirit to live inside us…to teach us the truth…to guide us in prayer…and to give us the very words to pray the Father’s will. 

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God’s written word…and God’s spoken word…given to us by His Spirit in our spirit… are His promises, His pattern, and His declaration of intent. As we interact with Him in worship, adoration, and submission as children to a beloved Father, He sows the seed of His word into our spirits to produce the fruit of His will. 

When we mindlessly babble our own wants and desires, we act like pagans who run after “things”.  Jesus warned against behaving like the “Gentiles”. 

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Real prayer happens between a Father and His children…a Father who knows them and children who trust Him. A son’s role is to learn and to do his father’s  business…so, prayer is never issuing instructions. Prayer is reporting for duty. 

Can you see, then, that God’s word must play the central role in our prayer life because His word is the clear disclosure of what He wants to accomplish. We are partners by participating with what He has said and declaring what He has already determined…and then we carry out whatever He tells us to do. 

This is the way real prayer works…and this is the way God’s will is done on earth as it is done in heaven!