Paradise on Earth

11. Into the Divine Likeness

By the time the human race has progressed into the Millennium the world will be a far different place. It is not only that the physical conditions under which people will find themselves living will be vastly improved, but the mental outlook and state of the mind will be immeasurably enhanced. Outwardly, of course, everything will be conducive to human happiness and satisfaction. The waste places of the earth will have long since become productive, the deserts changed to fertile land and forests clothe much of them where only sand and rocks existed before. The climate will have become more equable, largely because of the elimination of desert areas and the growth of new forests. The labours of men and women will have changed the very face of the earth, producing abundance of crops and an all‑sufficiency of food for earth’s population. All this will create a world‑wide condition of satisfaction and peace which itself cannot but exert its influence upon human minds. "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." (Isa.32:17) "In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth." (Psa.72:7) But in addition to all this, and more important than the effect of the rehabilitation of the earth, will be the changed nature of human minds. No longer will the old traits of greed, hatred and malice poison their lives and lead them to enmity one with another, with all the dire results which those vices have brought in this present day and age. Selflessness, love and benevolence will be the predominant characteristics, leading to the development of a world society in which every person seeks the welfare of their fellow, and in so doing ensures their own. Almost certainly by this time the vast majority will have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and will have long been walking in his ways. Says the Lord, "then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent" (Zeph.3:9) and again, "they shall all know me, from the least...unto the greatest." (Jer.31:34) The fact that all will by then have been brought to a full and accurate knowledge of the character and benevolence and love of God, instead of the miserable caricature of him as a vengeful and punishing God which is all that so many know in this present life, will of itself induce a strong incentive to loyalty and allegiance to him, and when to this is added the realisation of what was achieved for them by the life on earth and the death of Jesus Christ, it is possible perhaps to visualise something of the enthusiasm with which the people will acclaim, as the Psalmist says they will (Psa.48:14) "this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death"–except that in that Age they will substitute "unto eternity."

It is perhaps impossible in this life and this world to realise the tremendous force for righteousness and well‑doing that will be created by this well‑nigh universal acceptance of the ways of God. The effect upon any who by then may remain unregenerate must be powerful to the extreme, an extreme we can by no means comprehend. Just as almost universal power and practice of evil in this present world is a powerful force leading men into increasingly greater deeds of evil in their own hearts and lives, so the universal power and practice of righteousness in that Age will be a powerful incentive to the unregenerate to repent in their turn and come to the Saviour for healing. There will surely be a great many "miracles of grace" in that day.

But there is another side to the coin. It is certainly true that the Millennial Day is a day of blessing for all who will heed the voice of the Son of God, and turn to him, and repent, and convert, and be healed. But what of the past when some were guilty of base crimes against their fellows, or have despoiled the earth, which is our common home, to satisfy their own greed, knowing full well what they were doing. Are they to find that the past is as if it had never been? Is there to be no retribution for the sins of the past life? And if so, of what nature will it consist?

The answer is in Paul’s words to the Galatians "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Gal.6:7) There is no escaping that Divine law. Even though the person has been freed from the Adamic death sentence by reason of the offering of Christ, who died for all without limitation; even though they have been restored to life and given a full knowledge of the grace of God in Christ whereby they may, if they will, advance to full reconciliation with God and so inherit eternal life, they cannot escape the effects of the past. That effect is written into their being and the more they have been steeped in sin and all vices the farther away they are from the Divine standard and the harder they will find it to come back to that standard. Jesus made that clear when he said that the people of Tyre and Sidon, Sodom, and Gomorrah, famous for their depravity, would find the Millennial experience "more tolerable"—better, more endurable,—than the unbelieving Jews of his own day. They were, despite their vices, nearer to God than these; after all, Jesus did say that if his Gospel had been preached to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah they would have repented: his own people did not. These references, then (Matt.10:15; 11:24; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:12) all demonstrate the fact that some will find life harder in the Millennium than will others, and it will be because they were, even if outwardly righteous, farther from God than the others. Says Job (4:8) "they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same" like Solomon in Prov.22:8 "He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity" ("vanity" in the A.V. really means iniquity). There must therefore, be a reaping of retribution for deeds done in the flesh even though that retribution runs parallel to the work of restoration which is bringing each one nearer to God.

It is tempting to surmise how this is going to work out in practice. It has been suggested that the murderer will be sent to seek out and make his peace with the person they murdered. In such case notable conquerors such as Napoleon and Genghis Khan, who were responsible for the deaths of thousands, will have quite a task on their hands. Those who have committed crimes, not against others, but against the habitat of the earth, might easily find that their past will catch up with them. One particular Scripture, Rev.11:18, indicates as part of the operations of the Lord Christ when He begins his rule in the glory of his Kingdom the fact that He will "destroy them which destroy the earth;" the word rendered "destroy" is one which means literally "to change for the worse." Of course, these will not be destroyed in the literal sense in a day which is devoted to life and rehabilitation for all. A little thought leads to the realisation that certain men, for purely selfish reasons, chiefly financial gain, have changed the earth for the worse by cutting down its forests, polluting the sea, land and atmosphere, permitting famine in one part which could have been relieved by the plenty existing in another, making and selling armaments for warring peoples, so ensuring death and misery to thousands, and so on. Is it too fanciful to suggest that in the next Age these will find their own condition definitely "changed for the worse" in that instead of enjoying the luxuries of life on the profits of their nefarious actions they will now be required to spend their time in a much more menial capacity planting new forests, cleansing the earth from its pollutants, finding ways and means of countering the effects of famines and wars. Even though the Millennium be a time of peace and security, there will still be a lot of work to be done, and if those who contributed most to the despoiling of the earth in this life find that they are expected to undertake the lion’s share of the admittedly drastic work required to restore it in the next, they may perhaps realise the truth of Paul’s words, albeit, it is to be hoped, admitting that the position is a just one.

This brings one logically to a consideration of the day‑to‑day activities of the restored human race. The new world is not going to mean an eternity of idleness. The whole scheme of Nature teaches us that nothing ever stands still. There must always be activity, development, achievement, "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear" as Jesus said in the parable likening the Kingdom of God to the growth of grain from seed. (Mark 4:28) There will be work to be done, work not attended with danger as is so often the case at present, but work nevertheless which will be incumbent upon man to perform. Especially will this be the case during the early centuries of the Age, when so drastic a reversal of the damage man has done throughout the span of history will be necessary. Even after that end has been achieved, that which has been attained must be maintained, for Nature uncontrolled and unchecked can easily turn the fruitful field into a wilderness again. Nevertheless, the physical perfection of the human frame will rob labour of much of its burdens; perhaps the difference between daily labour and the pursuits of leisure may not be so great after all. Leisure in those days will mean so much more than it does today. One can imagine the development and practice of arts and crafts, of music and sports and travel, to a degree never experienced in this present life. The acquisition of knowledge, the fruits of research, must of necessity go on into the infinite future, for there can be no end to the searchings of the human mind in its passionate reaching out to the unrevealed. All this, unhindered by the opposing forces of impaired intellect and physique, of poverty and limited opportunity, inseparable from the present, will be open to all and so life will go on, full and complete.

One aspect of that life must be the complete restoration of human powers of control over the animal creation, as was the case with the first man in Eden. To some extent limited examples of this can be witnessed today, as for example the lion‑tamer in his circus, the farmer with his sheepdog, the swimmer with dolphins, and so on. In that day the Divine ideal as laid down in Genesis will be fully realised, and man will have benevolent "dominion over...the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air," (Psa.8:6‑8) all exercised benevolently and without hardship to that creation. Perhaps it is in some such fashion that the Old Testament prophets’ predictions that the lion shall lay down with the lamb, the leopard eat straw with the bullock, will have their fulfilment. (Isa.11:6‑7; 65:25) We still do not know enough about Nature’s economy with regard to the lower animals to perceive accurately just how all this is going to be possible, but the general picture is there in the Old Testament and it is a picture of universal peace not only amongst humankind but also the entire animal creation which will surely come to pass.

Nearly three thousand years ago Isaiah, the man of God who saw more clearly into those far‑future days than any other man, declaimed "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed (posterity) and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me... For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create...and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard... nor the voice of crying...they shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble...and it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear...they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain (kingdom), saith the LORD." (Isa.66:22‑23 & 65:17‑19,23‑25) Nearly a thousand years later, John the Revelator, having the same inspiration as Isaiah, "heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle (dwelling) of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the Throne saith, Behold, I make all things new." (Rev.21:3‑5)

To be concluded
AOH