There appears to be little doubt among those who work extensively on the matter that earth life will end. Reasons differ among theorists, but conclusions are negative. The scientists believe life will end in some future millennia, perhaps when the energy in the solar system runs down. There is general agreement – the end is presumed. It might come with the crash of a mighty meteorite to earth making life sustenance impossible. Or it may come with a great flammable burp of methane gas from the oceans. Persons of faith also believe it will end, not because of natural failure in sustaining forces, but because God tolls the last knell, closes the creation as it exists at the time, and starts over again. Psalm 24 describes, in poetic language, the devastation of the creation as it relates to man and society. No one escapes. The earth withers, ruins characterize the cities, gaiety is ended, silence will fall, and all is blamed on a human curse. Earth’s people must bear their guilt. (24:6) The earth . . . falls never to rise again. (24:30) Persons of Biblical faith have believed that the earth as we know it is destined for an unpleasant end. What is the value of such prophetic information that challenges credulity for the larger population? Do we need to know that earth’s end is sure? As I edit this page, scientists are debating the possibility of the end from a monster new atomic plant, costing billions of dollars, just now opening in Europe. Man is troubled, but not deeply, with any threat of the end of creation. Perhaps this is a sign of mental health. Why fret about it, if it is inevitable, and we can do nothing about it? We treat personal death in much the same way. Generally, knowing that death is inevitable, one lives day to day, as though the certainty within a few years does not exist. We lose life dwelling on death. Perhaps general attitude is like that of Gone With The Wind, Scarlet O’Hara: I’ll think about it tomorrow.
The story of Scripture is that the end is not the end. Every end in Scripture is a transition. What is ending provides a door to a new experience in God’s plan. But there is a secret related to the transition – preparation. One prepares for every ending so that he or she may gain benefits of the new beginning. A pregnant woman who does not take care of her condition does not prepare either herself or her baby for the ending of womb life for the fetus and the beginning of life in external nature of an independent person. In this womb of nature we are permitted to give some of our time (a fair amount is needed) to prepare for the death of our bodies (which is the earth’s end for the individual) and transition to that for which the new birth has meaning.
It is not possible for us to change the prospective fact that the earth will pass away, but we are provided enough information and resources that the passing of the creation as we know it becomes transition to new life. The end is a bridge to a beginning. God becomes too small for many of us, and our creation context becomes too large. As new things grow old and rust, so may creation. Replacement is in order. Science and Scripture hold that earth will end, but the emphasis of Jesus became the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. The new will be at a higher level where moth and rust do not corrupt. It is in that transition that Christians perceive immortality. In this there is hope. The gift of faith appropriates it. Without it, hope dies. Without it, man dies, losing the promise of life in spiritual context incorporating ecstasy. The greatest proof of the existence of God, proof in the context of nature, is life. Thus far mankind’s research finds remarkable truths about what lies in light years beyond the earth, but life has not been one of them. Once we give attention to life and how it functions, we will find there, not in any other place, the reflection of God. The evidence is in the life of mankind, that life in image. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020