We continue with the subject of,

The Millennium and the End of Sin

The fate of the earth

According to our Adventist friends,

“The earth will be burned completely with a purifying fire…and that during the time that the saints are reigning in heaven the earth will be desolate for a thousand years.”

“Since the righteous ascend to be with the Lord and the wicked are destroyed at His appearing, the earth stands for a time without human inhabitants. Scripture points to such a situation. Jeremiah said, “I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; and the heavens, they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. I beheld, and indeed there was no man” (Jer. 4:23-25). Jeremiah’s use of the terminology found in Genesis 1:2, “without form, and void,” indicates that the earth is to become as chaotic as it was at the beginning of Creation.”

Unfortunately, our friends are attempting to substantiated their hypothesis on a faulty assumption. Jeremiah was not referring to some future condition in which the earth would befall, but rather Israel.   

Let us examine Jeremiah’s prophecy once again.

“I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; and the heavens, they had no light. ‘I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, By His fierce anger. For thus says the Lord: “The whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, And the heavens above be black, Because I have spoken. I have purposed and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.” (Jer 4:23-28)

This has nothing to do with the idea of the earth being desolate and without life following the Lord’s Second Advent; this was a prophecy by Jeremiah concerning the impending trouble coming upon Israel. Let us go back a bit and consider the context from which these statements were made.

In Verses 1-4 the Lord states:

“If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord, “Return to me; and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then you shall not be moved [but they did not heed, and were scattered abroad]. And you shall swear, ‘The Lord lives,’ in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; the nations shall bless themselves in Him [the gentiles who received Christ did just that], and in Him they shall glory.” For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts [“circumcision is that of the heart,” Rom 2:29], You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings.”

Jeremiah recognized such repentance was not forthcoming, and predicted the consequences (Verses 7–13). The Babylonians worked this vengeance in Jeremiah’s day, and the Romans in Jesus’ day. Then Jeremiah expressed the sad conditions in Judaism in terms drawn from Genesis. “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light” (Verse 23).

Here the prophet was using a metaphor (a term or phrase applied to something to which it is not literally applicable, but nevertheless suggest a resemblance.)

This would be similar to the Prophet Joel when speaking of the Day of the Lord, the Day of Darkness (the great time of trouble) when he mentions the coming of a people, “great and strong (the Lord’s great army, the unrestrained anarchist masses of mankind), the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations.” (Joel 2:1, 2)

“They come from a far country, from the end of heaven (from all four corners of the earth), even the Lord, and the weapons (instruments) of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.” (Isa 13:5)

“A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them.” (Verse 3)

The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, that is to say prior to their coming, in which they rape and pillage the land destroying everything in their wake, the land was like the Garden of Eden; viz. when once you were safe in the comfort of your own home, when there was law and order, when you had running water, electricity and etc., and could simply go to the store if you were hungry. Those days will be longed for by all.

This reign of anarchy is analogous (i.e., corresponds in some particular; is similar or comparable) to the earth being “without form (order) and void”.

In our next post we move on to the next point, The New Earth? And who they believe will dwell there.