THE FUTURE

 

Many people want to know what the future holds.  Will global warming destroy the earth?  What is going to happen to the earth?  What is going to happen to all the people and animals on it.  God knows what the earths future is and He has put it down in a book.  The Bible tells the future of the earth and all it's  inhabitants.  And there are some interesting scriptures to look at. 

We know that with the problems in North Korea and Iran that we are sitting on a precipice.  Is there hope in this world?  Will every thing turn out all right for mankind in the end?  We can look to the future by looking at the Bible.  God knows what is going to happen, because He has planned the outcome.  Then you might say, if God controls the outcome, why does he let horrible things happen to the people on the earth?  There is war, starvation, rape, pedophiles, murder, etc..., etc... 

The thing that most people do not know about God is that He has had a hands off policy for a long time.  He does not try to stop the world from being evil.  He is allowing us to learn what does not work, so God allows us free moral agency.  Satan's way is the way that men prefer and this is how the world chooses to operate for now.  So we will continue to have wars, starvation, rape and murder.  BUT...the future is coming and no one can stop it, not even Satan. 

At a certain point, God will remove Satan from power.  And all people of the earth will return to God's rulership of the earth.  The Kingdom of God will be reinstated.   1 Corinthians 15:23-24 speaks of the future of this earth!  "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

Christ qualified Himself at His death to put down and remove all of Satan's authority and power to rule this earth.  John 12:31 says, "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out."  But, He didn't remove Him right then.  Note that Christ called Satan "the Prince of this world."  You can blame Satan for all the war, murder, and evils we deal with.  This is obviously not God's system. 

We know that Satan offered all the kingdoms of the world to Christ if He would bow down and worship him.  Matthew 4:8-10 says, "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." 

Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"  Christ didn't say, "you can't offer me that because I already rule all the kingdoms of the world."  The book of Revelation says that Satan has deceived the whole world.  He wants us to think that this is God's world.  That all of this is on God's hands.  Revelation 12:9-12 says, "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

Once Satan realizes that he doesn't have a lot of time left to rule the earth, he is going to freak out and woe to the earth.  Like Hitler, who went on a rampage and tried to destroy Germany itself, Satan will go on a rage.  He will have great wrath and set out to destroy the earth.  He will try to stop all possibility of God setting up His Kingdom on this earth, but he will fail.  At the return of Christ, the Kingdom of God will be set up.  Revelation 11:15-17 describes this fantastic event!  "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned."

The utopia that all men have longed for and talked about IS the coming Kingdom of God.  There will be no more war...no more evil under the sun.  Men will beat their swords into plowshares.  God says that there will be no hurting or destroying in all His Holy Kingdom.  And even the nature of animals will be changed.  The book of Isaiah prophesies, "The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD." Isaiah 65:25  Can you imagine???  God will change the nature of wolves that they will feed with Lambs...they will eat grass like a lamb and lions will eat straw like an ox!  Since God made them, he can change them.  The world will be so peaceful that you will be able to sleep in the woods.  No snake will harm, as dust will be the serpents food!  What a wonderful world to look forward to.  It is coming.



 

The Churches of God