Will there be “natural” life on earth for all eternity, as God originally intended?
(compiled by rob madden)
This concept seems to be a problem that is too difficult for the human mind to comprehend. However, the Scripture is not silent on this subject.
Note the following Scriptural facts:
1. God assures Israel that they will be an “eternal people – forever!” –
🔶Isaiah 66:22-23 and 59:21 The word translated “seed,” in these verses comes from the Hebrew word, “Sera” which means “seed, fruit, plant or posterity.” This word is used 273 times in the Old Testament and in every case; it means natural seed – either seed sown in the ground or the natural seed of man.
🔶Isaiah 66:23 uses the phrase, “all flesh,” and, then, continues in verse 24 to say, “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me:” The words “all flesh” is translated from the Hebrew, “basar,” used 252 times in the Old Testament and always means natural flesh, or animal life.
👉Doesn’t this confirm the fact that “natural man” will continue in the New Earth in the “New moons and Sabbaths?”
👉Read this passage carefully and see for yourself what its meaning must be.
2. “Men” and “nations” will dwell in the tabernacle of God, with God, when He comes down from heaven to live with them on earth – throughout eternity. Revelation 21:3-4 tells us that these dwelling on earth “shall be with them,” and verses 24- 26 continue by speaking of, “nations” and that they will begin to dwell in the presence of God. This could not be referring to the glorified saints, for they have already been with God for 1000 years.
3. The Earth was created to be inhabited by “natural” beings that were promised the Earth as an “eternal inheritance” from the very beginning – Exodus 32:13; Psalm 25:13; 37:9-11; also verses 22, 29 and 34; 69:36; 82:8; Matthew 5:5 and 25:34.
⭐These passages were spoken to earthly people and will be fulfilled when, after the Millennium, earth people inherit the Earth and are under the rule of the glorified saints who will reign as kings and priests under Christ, forever!
🔸Daniel 7:13-27 speaks of Christ’s kingdom on earth and tells us that it will “and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed.”
🔸Isaiah 9:6-7, speaking of Christ’s earthly government, states, “Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end,... from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”
🔸Luke 1:32-33 “And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
🔸1 Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 5:9-10; 11:15; 20:4-10 – these verses state that natural people who live on Earth during the Millennium will not have the glorified bodies as the saints do, nor will they have the same privileges as the saints, but rather, are the subjects of the eternal kingdom that Christ, and the pre-millennial glorified saints, are said to reign over! –
🔸These are the "natural people" left over from the millennial kingdom, who will marry, and reproduce, the natural generations of men on the eternal Earth.
4. God originally created man to live forever in his natural body, and it is only because man sinned, and fell short of the glory of God, that God’s penalty for man’s sin was death – physical, spiritual, and eternal death.
🔹However, the fall of man did not cause God to change His original, and eternal, plan for man on the Earth. God cannot, in the end, suffer a defeat, and, because God cannot suffer a defeat,
🔹He turned man’s fall into a blessing by gathering a heavenly people to reign over the natural people who will be redeemed from the fall, and all its effects, after the Millennium.
🔹The fall of man simply delayed the original purpose of God, but because of the delay, God gained more than He would have gained otherwise because, as it is now, God will have an heavenly, resurrected and glorified people who will reign over the coming generations of natural people.
🔹If the fall had not come, all men would have continued as natural people forever and there would have been no class of glorified saints taken from the human race to help God administer the affairs of the universe forever.
🔹After the Millennium, natural men will be fully redeemed and will live on the New Earth, just as Adam did before the fall, to carry out god’s original purpose of replenishing the Earth with natural people – Genesis 1:27-31; 9:12 and Isaiah 45:18
🔹Of course, God knew that man would sin because He is omniscient and knows all things from eternity to eternity, and planned, “before the foundation of the world,” form man’s Redeemer
5. A great host of verses in the bible plainly declare that there will be “eternal generations” of natural peoples who will inhabit the Earth.
🔸In the following verses note when the phrase, “all generations to come,” or “from generation to generation,” it is translated from the Hebrew word “Hebraism,” meaning “perpetual generations – generations that continue forever and ever.” –
👉Genesis 9:12; 13:15; 17:7-8 and verse 19; Exodus 3:15; 12:14 and verse 42; 27:21; 30:8 and 21; 31:16; 40:15; Leviticus 3:17; 6:18; 10:9; 17:7; 23:14, 21, 31 and 41; 24:3; 25:30; Numbers 10:8; 15:15; 18:23; Deuteronomy 5;29; 12:28; 28:46; 29:29; 2 Samuel 7:24-29; 1 Chronicles 23:25; Psalm 12:7; 45:17; 72;5; 79:13; 89:4; 100:5; 102:12 and 24; 106:31; 119:90; 135:13; 145:13; 146:10; Isaiah 9:6-7; 51:8; 59:21; Jeremiah 31:35-36; 32:38-40; Ezekiel 37:24-28; Lamentations 5:19; Daniel 2:44-45; 4::3; and 34; 7:13-18; Joel 3:20; Luke 1:32-25; and 54-55; Revelation 11:15.👈
🔸Because man’s fall does not do away with God’s original plan and purpose for man, one can envision what conditions will be like in the future for the “New Earth.”
🔸Imagine the wonderful conditions that would have existed on earth had man not sinned. Acts 3:21 states, “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”
🔸Just think of it! Had man not sinned, children would have been born to live forever, animals would never have been man’s enemy, but rather, would have always been utilized by man for his own good.
🔸There would have been no thorns and thistles – or curse of any kind on the earth. There would have been so sufferings, pain, tears, failures, sin, death, or any of the other present effects of man’s rebellion and sin.
🔸Certainly every man can conceive of these wonderful conditions that would have been man’s for all of eternity had he not sinned and remained true in obeying God.
It is the people who will not rebel with Satan, at the end of the millennium, who will continue on the Earth forever as “natural” people.
🔸It is only the rebels who align themselves with Satan during this time who will be destroyed from the Earth.
🔸Once they (Satan and his followers) are destroyed, the curse, and all its effects, will be removed and man will be able to live forever in his natural body and carry out God’s original creative plan to replenish natural life on the Earth.
🔸During this present age, under the curse, those of the human race of mankind, whom God is preparing as an heavenly people to reign over coming generations of natural people, will have their “natural” bodies changed to spiritual, glorified, resurrected bodies – [that is, the Old and New Testaments saints].
🔸In addition to the previous Scriptures cited that state that there will be eternal generations of natural people there are three more Scripture passages that, likewise, verify this truth.
🔸In these passages, when the phrase, “a thousand generations,” is used, it is also translated from the Hebrew word, “Hebraism,” that means, remember, “perpetual generations – generations that continue forever and ever.” –
1️⃣Deuteronomy 7:9
2️⃣1 Chronicles 16:15
3️⃣Psalms 105:8 and 90:10
6. There are a number of Scriptural passages that speaks of God making an “eternal, everlasting,” covenant with natural man and beast.
👉Genesis 9:16; 17:7 and 19; Exodus 31:16; Leviticus 24:8; Numbers 18:19; 2 Samuel 23:5; 1 Chronicles 16:17; Psalms 105:10; Isaiah 55:3; 61:8; Jeremiah 32:40; 50:4-5; Ezekiel 16:60 and 37:26-28.👈
7. Eternal lands were promised to Abraham, and his natural posterity, forever! How could the following Scriptural promises from God’s Word be true if both parties of the covenants were not eternal?
👉Genesis 13:15; 17:6-8; 48:4; Exodus 32:12-13; Leviticus 25:23, 30 and 34; Deuteronomy 4:40; Psalm 111:5 and 9; 2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 60:21; Luke 1:32-35 and Matthew 19:28 8.👈
8. The Scriptures abundantly prove that David’s natural seed, his earthly throne and kingdom with its earthly subject, are all eternal and will be ruled by Christ forever.
👉2 Samuel 7:11-17 and verses 24-29; 22:52; 23:5; 1 Kings 2:45; 9:3-5; 1 Chronicles 17:7-15 and verses 22-27; 22:10; 28:4-9; 2 Chronicles 13:5; 21:7; Psalm 89:3-4 and 35-37; 145:13; Isaiah 9:6- 7; Ezekiel 43:7-9; Daniel 2:44-45; 7:13-14 and 18-27; Micah 4:7; Luke 1:32-35; Hebrews 1:8; 12:28; Revelation 11:15 and 22:5.👈
9. Planting and harvesting, summer and winter, day and night, will go on while the earth remains.
👉Genesis 8:22; Psalm 104:5; Ecclesiastes 1:4; Isaiah 65:21-25; Micah 4:3-4; Joel 2:18-32 and 2:1-21.👈
🔹Certainly glorified saints will not be the ones who plow, sow, reap, and enjoy the fruits of their labors, for they will be the ruling class.
🔹It will be the natural people who have come out of the Tribulation period into the Millennium and from the Millennium into the New Earth who will plant, and harvest, on the earth forever.
🔹They will be the ones that will marry and have children forever, and live a normal, natural life just as man would have done if he had not sinned.
🔹Thus we must distinguish between the two classes of eternal people of Adam’s race, the natural people who will be the subjects of the kingdom forever, and the immortal, spiritual, resurrected, heavenly, glorified saints of all ages who will be the rulers and heirs of the kingdom forever.
🔹The natural people will carry out God’s original purpose on earth, just as man would have done had he not sinned and, therefore, continued on the earth forever.
10. The following are yet more Scriptural passages that confirm the truth of the fact that natural man, and other creatures, will live a natural, perpetual life on earth under the kind of perfect conditions that would have existed had Adam not sinned.
👉Genesis 17:13; Exodus 12:14 and 24; 27:20-21; 28:29 and 43; 29:9; 30:8 and 21; 31:16-17; 40:15; Leviticus 16:3:17; 17:7; 23:14 and 21; 24:3; Numbers 10:8; 15:15; 18:8 and 23; 19:10 and 21; 1 Chronicles 15:2; 23:13; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 2 Kings 17:37; Psalm 125:1; Isaiah 45:17; 55:13; 60:15-20; Exodus 45:14 and Zechariah 14:16-21.👈
11. The Scripture tells us that the glorified saints, in addition to heaven, are to reign as “kings and priests” on earth forever.
❓How could they be “priest” forever without worshippers to minister unto?
❓How could they be “kings” forever without a kingdom and subjects, to reign over?
❓They certainly will not reign over, and minister, only to themselves.
12. Most of the passages quoted in this study use the words “everlasting, forever and perpetual,” when speaking of the existence of natural man and, since these are the same words that are used to denote the eternal existence of God, the existence of natural man must be as eternal as the existence of God. We have no right to take such words to mean anything but what they say, unless such is plainly implied in the passage where they are found, or statements found elsewhere to the contrary. Any usage of the words, in any passage of Scripture, other than that of an eternal sense, is always made clear in the passage itself. When these words are used dispensationally, and in connection with eternal things, they mean eternal in every case.
13. God gave recognition to...
🔸His intention to have a perpetual race through the tree of life when He drove Adam from it (Genesis 3:24)
🔸Since eternal bodily life of glorified saints will not depend on such trees.
🔸They have immortal bodies by the virtue of their resurrection and transformation by the Spirit of God.
🔸What purpose will “trees of life” have in the new Earth if it is not for the preservation of natural life?
🔸If the above passages mean what they say then they prove the perpetuity of the human race as natural physical beings. This would have been the case if man had not sinned.
🔸When death, the penalty for sin, is destroyed after the Millennium, because sin ceases to be, life will automatically go on through the medium of natural preservation – the tree of life (Revelation 2:7 and 17; 22:2).
14. In view of the perpetual multiplying of the race, an obvious question would be, “How can the earth hold so many coming generations?”
👉This may be answered satisfactorily by the following observations:
A. The how of many revealed parts of God’s eternal plan is not clear. We are not asked to understand how certain things will be brought about, but rather, we are simply asked to believe what is plainly written in God’s Word.
B. The how of God’s entire plan is in His hands. Is the God Who created all things, and foretold eternal plans, now limited in His power to bring these things to pass?
C. Nonetheless, the how of this question of “over-population” seems to be answered in Psalm 8 and Isaiah 40:29-31.
1. These passages tell us that common, natural man was supposed to have power and dominion over all the works of God’s hand, which would include all the planets.
2. Since Christ came to restore man’s dominion over all things (Hebrews 2:7-10), it seems logical to believe that, in the future restoration, man will have power over, and access to, the planets, which are a part of God’s handiwork.
3. This being true, God could, then, take care of all future generations, whenever necessary, by populating other planets.
ILLUS: Keep in mind that Hubble Space Telescope discovered galaxies 55 millions light years from the Earth (a “light-year” is traveling at 186,00 miles a second!) And, who knows how much more space is out there?
D. After the restoration, it will be possible for vast multitudes of people to live on the earth.
ILLUS: Even now in Japan about ¾ of the arable, barren land is owned by small peasant proprietors who provide for their families on holdings of as small as one acre, some even smaller acreage.
E. In addition, once the ground is freed from the curse its productivity potential will return to what it was prior to the curse!
1. Possibly a few figures in connections with the area of the earth, and the many people it should be capable of holding, might be interesting at this point. 🔅It is said that the total area of the earth is 196,950,000 square miles. 🔅There are now about 1,000,000 square miles of lakes, and river surface, not counting the area of the oceans. (Revelation 21:1 tells us “there will be no more seas”) 🔅Granting that there will be no oceans in the New Earth, let us suppose that 4,650,000 square miles will be necessary for the site of the New Jerusalem. 🔅That leaves 190,000,000 square miles of land for man. 🔅If one acre were given to each person there would be room for about 121,600,000,000 people on the earth or about 119 billion more people than there are now, presently, living on the earth.
2. Remember too, that when the Earth is made “New,” there will not be any wilderness or desert waste land, no steaming jungles, frozen artic, or wide expansions of arid, barren lands, but rather, the whole Earth will be fruitful, fertile and productive.
And, if God should ever need more room – the Creator of the vast universe certainly could push its wide borders out a few billion light years. Nothing is impossible to God!
Note the following Scriptural facts:
1. God assures Israel that they will be an “eternal people – forever!” –
🔶Isaiah 66:22-23 and 59:21 The word translated “seed,” in these verses comes from the Hebrew word, “Sera” which means “seed, fruit, plant or posterity.” This word is used 273 times in the Old Testament and in every case; it means natural seed – either seed sown in the ground or the natural seed of man.
🔶Isaiah 66:23 uses the phrase, “all flesh,” and, then, continues in verse 24 to say, “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me:” The words “all flesh” is translated from the Hebrew, “basar,” used 252 times in the Old Testament and always means natural flesh, or animal life.
👉Doesn’t this confirm the fact that “natural man” will continue in the New Earth in the “New moons and Sabbaths?”
👉Read this passage carefully and see for yourself what its meaning must be.
2. “Men” and “nations” will dwell in the tabernacle of God, with God, when He comes down from heaven to live with them on earth – throughout eternity. Revelation 21:3-4 tells us that these dwelling on earth “shall be with them,” and verses 24- 26 continue by speaking of, “nations” and that they will begin to dwell in the presence of God. This could not be referring to the glorified saints, for they have already been with God for 1000 years.
3. The Earth was created to be inhabited by “natural” beings that were promised the Earth as an “eternal inheritance” from the very beginning – Exodus 32:13; Psalm 25:13; 37:9-11; also verses 22, 29 and 34; 69:36; 82:8; Matthew 5:5 and 25:34.
⭐These passages were spoken to earthly people and will be fulfilled when, after the Millennium, earth people inherit the Earth and are under the rule of the glorified saints who will reign as kings and priests under Christ, forever!
🔸Daniel 7:13-27 speaks of Christ’s kingdom on earth and tells us that it will “and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed.”
🔸Isaiah 9:6-7, speaking of Christ’s earthly government, states, “Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end,... from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”
🔸Luke 1:32-33 “And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
🔸1 Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 5:9-10; 11:15; 20:4-10 – these verses state that natural people who live on Earth during the Millennium will not have the glorified bodies as the saints do, nor will they have the same privileges as the saints, but rather, are the subjects of the eternal kingdom that Christ, and the pre-millennial glorified saints, are said to reign over! –
🔸These are the "natural people" left over from the millennial kingdom, who will marry, and reproduce, the natural generations of men on the eternal Earth.
4. God originally created man to live forever in his natural body, and it is only because man sinned, and fell short of the glory of God, that God’s penalty for man’s sin was death – physical, spiritual, and eternal death.
🔹However, the fall of man did not cause God to change His original, and eternal, plan for man on the Earth. God cannot, in the end, suffer a defeat, and, because God cannot suffer a defeat,
🔹He turned man’s fall into a blessing by gathering a heavenly people to reign over the natural people who will be redeemed from the fall, and all its effects, after the Millennium.
🔹The fall of man simply delayed the original purpose of God, but because of the delay, God gained more than He would have gained otherwise because, as it is now, God will have an heavenly, resurrected and glorified people who will reign over the coming generations of natural people.
🔹If the fall had not come, all men would have continued as natural people forever and there would have been no class of glorified saints taken from the human race to help God administer the affairs of the universe forever.
🔹After the Millennium, natural men will be fully redeemed and will live on the New Earth, just as Adam did before the fall, to carry out god’s original purpose of replenishing the Earth with natural people – Genesis 1:27-31; 9:12 and Isaiah 45:18
🔹Of course, God knew that man would sin because He is omniscient and knows all things from eternity to eternity, and planned, “before the foundation of the world,” form man’s Redeemer
5. A great host of verses in the bible plainly declare that there will be “eternal generations” of natural peoples who will inhabit the Earth.
🔸In the following verses note when the phrase, “all generations to come,” or “from generation to generation,” it is translated from the Hebrew word “Hebraism,” meaning “perpetual generations – generations that continue forever and ever.” –
👉Genesis 9:12; 13:15; 17:7-8 and verse 19; Exodus 3:15; 12:14 and verse 42; 27:21; 30:8 and 21; 31:16; 40:15; Leviticus 3:17; 6:18; 10:9; 17:7; 23:14, 21, 31 and 41; 24:3; 25:30; Numbers 10:8; 15:15; 18:23; Deuteronomy 5;29; 12:28; 28:46; 29:29; 2 Samuel 7:24-29; 1 Chronicles 23:25; Psalm 12:7; 45:17; 72;5; 79:13; 89:4; 100:5; 102:12 and 24; 106:31; 119:90; 135:13; 145:13; 146:10; Isaiah 9:6-7; 51:8; 59:21; Jeremiah 31:35-36; 32:38-40; Ezekiel 37:24-28; Lamentations 5:19; Daniel 2:44-45; 4::3; and 34; 7:13-18; Joel 3:20; Luke 1:32-25; and 54-55; Revelation 11:15.👈
🔸Because man’s fall does not do away with God’s original plan and purpose for man, one can envision what conditions will be like in the future for the “New Earth.”
🔸Imagine the wonderful conditions that would have existed on earth had man not sinned. Acts 3:21 states, “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”
🔸Just think of it! Had man not sinned, children would have been born to live forever, animals would never have been man’s enemy, but rather, would have always been utilized by man for his own good.
🔸There would have been no thorns and thistles – or curse of any kind on the earth. There would have been so sufferings, pain, tears, failures, sin, death, or any of the other present effects of man’s rebellion and sin.
🔸Certainly every man can conceive of these wonderful conditions that would have been man’s for all of eternity had he not sinned and remained true in obeying God.
It is the people who will not rebel with Satan, at the end of the millennium, who will continue on the Earth forever as “natural” people.
🔸It is only the rebels who align themselves with Satan during this time who will be destroyed from the Earth.
🔸Once they (Satan and his followers) are destroyed, the curse, and all its effects, will be removed and man will be able to live forever in his natural body and carry out God’s original creative plan to replenish natural life on the Earth.
🔸During this present age, under the curse, those of the human race of mankind, whom God is preparing as an heavenly people to reign over coming generations of natural people, will have their “natural” bodies changed to spiritual, glorified, resurrected bodies – [that is, the Old and New Testaments saints].
🔸In addition to the previous Scriptures cited that state that there will be eternal generations of natural people there are three more Scripture passages that, likewise, verify this truth.
🔸In these passages, when the phrase, “a thousand generations,” is used, it is also translated from the Hebrew word, “Hebraism,” that means, remember, “perpetual generations – generations that continue forever and ever.” –
1️⃣Deuteronomy 7:9
2️⃣1 Chronicles 16:15
3️⃣Psalms 105:8 and 90:10
6. There are a number of Scriptural passages that speaks of God making an “eternal, everlasting,” covenant with natural man and beast.
👉Genesis 9:16; 17:7 and 19; Exodus 31:16; Leviticus 24:8; Numbers 18:19; 2 Samuel 23:5; 1 Chronicles 16:17; Psalms 105:10; Isaiah 55:3; 61:8; Jeremiah 32:40; 50:4-5; Ezekiel 16:60 and 37:26-28.👈
7. Eternal lands were promised to Abraham, and his natural posterity, forever! How could the following Scriptural promises from God’s Word be true if both parties of the covenants were not eternal?
👉Genesis 13:15; 17:6-8; 48:4; Exodus 32:12-13; Leviticus 25:23, 30 and 34; Deuteronomy 4:40; Psalm 111:5 and 9; 2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 60:21; Luke 1:32-35 and Matthew 19:28 8.👈
8. The Scriptures abundantly prove that David’s natural seed, his earthly throne and kingdom with its earthly subject, are all eternal and will be ruled by Christ forever.
👉2 Samuel 7:11-17 and verses 24-29; 22:52; 23:5; 1 Kings 2:45; 9:3-5; 1 Chronicles 17:7-15 and verses 22-27; 22:10; 28:4-9; 2 Chronicles 13:5; 21:7; Psalm 89:3-4 and 35-37; 145:13; Isaiah 9:6- 7; Ezekiel 43:7-9; Daniel 2:44-45; 7:13-14 and 18-27; Micah 4:7; Luke 1:32-35; Hebrews 1:8; 12:28; Revelation 11:15 and 22:5.👈
9. Planting and harvesting, summer and winter, day and night, will go on while the earth remains.
👉Genesis 8:22; Psalm 104:5; Ecclesiastes 1:4; Isaiah 65:21-25; Micah 4:3-4; Joel 2:18-32 and 2:1-21.👈
🔹Certainly glorified saints will not be the ones who plow, sow, reap, and enjoy the fruits of their labors, for they will be the ruling class.
🔹It will be the natural people who have come out of the Tribulation period into the Millennium and from the Millennium into the New Earth who will plant, and harvest, on the earth forever.
🔹They will be the ones that will marry and have children forever, and live a normal, natural life just as man would have done if he had not sinned.
🔹Thus we must distinguish between the two classes of eternal people of Adam’s race, the natural people who will be the subjects of the kingdom forever, and the immortal, spiritual, resurrected, heavenly, glorified saints of all ages who will be the rulers and heirs of the kingdom forever.
🔹The natural people will carry out God’s original purpose on earth, just as man would have done had he not sinned and, therefore, continued on the earth forever.
10. The following are yet more Scriptural passages that confirm the truth of the fact that natural man, and other creatures, will live a natural, perpetual life on earth under the kind of perfect conditions that would have existed had Adam not sinned.
👉Genesis 17:13; Exodus 12:14 and 24; 27:20-21; 28:29 and 43; 29:9; 30:8 and 21; 31:16-17; 40:15; Leviticus 16:3:17; 17:7; 23:14 and 21; 24:3; Numbers 10:8; 15:15; 18:8 and 23; 19:10 and 21; 1 Chronicles 15:2; 23:13; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 2 Kings 17:37; Psalm 125:1; Isaiah 45:17; 55:13; 60:15-20; Exodus 45:14 and Zechariah 14:16-21.👈
11. The Scripture tells us that the glorified saints, in addition to heaven, are to reign as “kings and priests” on earth forever.
❓How could they be “priest” forever without worshippers to minister unto?
❓How could they be “kings” forever without a kingdom and subjects, to reign over?
❓They certainly will not reign over, and minister, only to themselves.
12. Most of the passages quoted in this study use the words “everlasting, forever and perpetual,” when speaking of the existence of natural man and, since these are the same words that are used to denote the eternal existence of God, the existence of natural man must be as eternal as the existence of God. We have no right to take such words to mean anything but what they say, unless such is plainly implied in the passage where they are found, or statements found elsewhere to the contrary. Any usage of the words, in any passage of Scripture, other than that of an eternal sense, is always made clear in the passage itself. When these words are used dispensationally, and in connection with eternal things, they mean eternal in every case.
13. God gave recognition to...
🔸His intention to have a perpetual race through the tree of life when He drove Adam from it (Genesis 3:24)
🔸Since eternal bodily life of glorified saints will not depend on such trees.
🔸They have immortal bodies by the virtue of their resurrection and transformation by the Spirit of God.
🔸What purpose will “trees of life” have in the new Earth if it is not for the preservation of natural life?
🔸If the above passages mean what they say then they prove the perpetuity of the human race as natural physical beings. This would have been the case if man had not sinned.
🔸When death, the penalty for sin, is destroyed after the Millennium, because sin ceases to be, life will automatically go on through the medium of natural preservation – the tree of life (Revelation 2:7 and 17; 22:2).
14. In view of the perpetual multiplying of the race, an obvious question would be, “How can the earth hold so many coming generations?”
👉This may be answered satisfactorily by the following observations:
A. The how of many revealed parts of God’s eternal plan is not clear. We are not asked to understand how certain things will be brought about, but rather, we are simply asked to believe what is plainly written in God’s Word.
B. The how of God’s entire plan is in His hands. Is the God Who created all things, and foretold eternal plans, now limited in His power to bring these things to pass?
C. Nonetheless, the how of this question of “over-population” seems to be answered in Psalm 8 and Isaiah 40:29-31.
1. These passages tell us that common, natural man was supposed to have power and dominion over all the works of God’s hand, which would include all the planets.
2. Since Christ came to restore man’s dominion over all things (Hebrews 2:7-10), it seems logical to believe that, in the future restoration, man will have power over, and access to, the planets, which are a part of God’s handiwork.
3. This being true, God could, then, take care of all future generations, whenever necessary, by populating other planets.
ILLUS: Keep in mind that Hubble Space Telescope discovered galaxies 55 millions light years from the Earth (a “light-year” is traveling at 186,00 miles a second!) And, who knows how much more space is out there?
D. After the restoration, it will be possible for vast multitudes of people to live on the earth.
ILLUS: Even now in Japan about ¾ of the arable, barren land is owned by small peasant proprietors who provide for their families on holdings of as small as one acre, some even smaller acreage.
E. In addition, once the ground is freed from the curse its productivity potential will return to what it was prior to the curse!
1. Possibly a few figures in connections with the area of the earth, and the many people it should be capable of holding, might be interesting at this point. 🔅It is said that the total area of the earth is 196,950,000 square miles. 🔅There are now about 1,000,000 square miles of lakes, and river surface, not counting the area of the oceans. (Revelation 21:1 tells us “there will be no more seas”) 🔅Granting that there will be no oceans in the New Earth, let us suppose that 4,650,000 square miles will be necessary for the site of the New Jerusalem. 🔅That leaves 190,000,000 square miles of land for man. 🔅If one acre were given to each person there would be room for about 121,600,000,000 people on the earth or about 119 billion more people than there are now, presently, living on the earth.
2. Remember too, that when the Earth is made “New,” there will not be any wilderness or desert waste land, no steaming jungles, frozen artic, or wide expansions of arid, barren lands, but rather, the whole Earth will be fruitful, fertile and productive.
And, if God should ever need more room – the Creator of the vast universe certainly could push its wide borders out a few billion light years. Nothing is impossible to God!