Friday: Rebirth of Planet Earth
Further Study:
On the final cleansing of Planet Earth from sin, read Ellen G. White, “The Controversy Ended,” in The Great Controversy, pages 662-678.
“And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.
‘And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.’ Revelation 5:13.
The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 678.
Discussion Questions:
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Summary:
Isaiah presents a vision of staggering scope. Not only would God purge and restore His community of faith, He would enlarge its borders to encompass all nations. Ultimately the re-creation of His community would lead to the re-creation of Planet Earth, where His presence would be the ultimate comfort of His people.
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We have come to the end of our short study of Isaiah and really we have only touched on a couple of the highlights. Isaiah is worth a much deeper study. Like a lot of poetry, it has layers of meaning that only penetrate the cranial cavity when we put some effort into it.
Having said that though, the messianic message has come through clearly in the last few weeks and those of us who have followed the lessons have appreciated that. We must remember that the Jews missed the point, and when Jesus tried to point out the truth, they rejected his interpretation. We should be careful to avoid calling the Jews stupid or ignorant because we can become too complacent in accepting the Church’s perceived interpretation without investigating it for ourselves. I sometimes refer to our acceptance of prescribed interpretation as being like a student who does his maths by looking up the answers in the back of the book and writing them down in their exercise book. They get them right but have no idea why. (and it is called cheating)
The study of Isaiah is not so much about getting the answers write but an opportunity to study and develop and grow our spiritual experience.
My prayer is that we have all learned something that is life-changing in our study of Isaiah this last quarter.
[Note: I will be travelling for the next three weeks and while I hope to be able to comment on the new set of lessons from time-to-time, I may not be as regular is in the past. It is difficult to think up something useful to say and drive 500km in a day. And sometimes the Internet is not quite as cooperative as I would like either when i have to depend on the mobile phone network for connectivity.]
I wanna say thank you Maurice for the wonderful contribution you have made to the SS lesson. I would
like to ask of you one favour! One day you were commenting on a lesson we were studying and you made mention of a tree in Australia or plant that gives very nice shade, but is full thorns and if people can catch the tree when it is young they could graft it and yield nice fruit if you can recall, please send me the name of that tree. Thanks
Hi Ronald, thank you for your kind words. The tree that you mention is the citrus root stock, Trifoliata
It isn't Australian and I think a lot of the orange trees you will find in orchards are grafted onto Trifoliata or similar.
Thank you in return Sir. Please hurry and come back!
I too appreciate Maurice's daily posts. I can attest to Maurice's references to the tree of your interest, not that he needs substantiation of his knowledge. But anyway, I lived in Florida back in the 90's we had orange trees in our yard. When a shoot would spring up below the graft I noticed it had thorns, that was how we knew the grafted from the graft.
be safe in your travels.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. Rev 21:1
Time has come and gone but what have we learn new? How is our life better since Jan 1st. How is our walk with our master, friend and companion? How have we struggled for the 1st quarter of the month? This struggle will soon be over and sin and sinners will be no more. The struggle is real, everyday is something different regardless where we live. May the good Master rule our lives and control our steps.
Blessings on your travel, and may God be with you. Not minimizing the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in today, but the book of Isaiah reminds us also that this life is but a drop in the bucket of eternity, which we nonetheless hold on to tenaciously because it is all we know. Like a quantum slice we catch a glimpse sometimes through God's prophets of what is in store, as if we are on the real event horizon of a life so far beyond our imagining that it seems unreal. When we catch that glimpse, like Ellen White experienced, this life looks so very dark, and we can't wait to stand on that ledge again, looking into the light of God's promises realized. May we be excited enough to hasten its coming.
We have been discussing whether Isa 65 & 66 apply to literal Israel as well as heaven and the future earth made new. I recently discovered that some believe that Isa 66:7-8 foretold the reestablishment of the nation of Israel.see below.
I believe that Isaiah was primarily prophecing about what the literal kingdom of Judah could or would become if its people surrendered their hearts and minds to the LORD. Because that is the Plan of Salvation throughout the Word of the LORD, the restoration of the Kingdom of the LORD. This literal restoration of Jerusalem would be a foretaste of when the whole world would be re-created and everything and everyone in it would all be only good like at the beginning.
If my understanding is correct it would resolve the queries we have because some of the prophecies like dying at 100 or even new moons might only apply to the possible restoration of literal Jerusalem and not the world made new.
However whether this view is correct or not the real message sent via Isaiah to literal Israel does apply to us, spiritual Israel, the LORD's people, that He has promised to change our hearts and minds to be like His now in this day and age and one day soon He will recreate the world as well.
Shirley- it seems you are looking at three different things/set of people.
1. Physical Israel (from Jacob to the death of Jesus).
2. Spiritual Israel (from the death of Jesus to all who will accept the invitation to love Jesus supreme and their neighbors as themselves and occupy the new Jerusalem).
3. The people who lives in the country of Israel today.
In my opinion, the bible only speaks about two Zion/Jerusalem. The physical and the spiritual in essence to the study for this quarter. None of us do not have an understanding of all the passages of the bible but the Holy Spirit will cont to reveal it to those who are seeking for truth.
It is my studied opinion that after the 70 weeks of Daniel expired(marked by the stoning of Stephen), that the nation of Israel(Judah at that point in time) was finished, and left desolate(Matt 23:38) as God's peculiar people. The present nation of "Israel" is not the nation that honors and serves God according to the "faith once delivered to the saints"(Jude 1:3), and thus do not fulfill the OT prophesies of Ezekiel, Isaiah, etc. Isaiah 66 could have been the post-captivity nation, except that history shows them rejecting the messiah as a nation, which fulfilled/ended their role as God's people as described in the last verses of Daniel 9. Yet any of the Jews today may receive Jesus and be saved with "all Israel"(Rom 11:26) who are Christ's(Gal 3:29) from "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues"(Rev 7:9) who "believe on His name"(John 1:12).
The vast majority of Christians today are wrong in their understanding and expectations concerning modern Israel. As God has said since Moses, if unfaithful, they would be scattered among the nations "forever", except those who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and have their names written in His book of Life, as anyone else may, who descends from Adam.
It seems some people have misunderstood what I wrote. I am in no way saying that Isaiah's prophecies apply to the current state of Israel, I said "some" people want to apply it to current literal Israel to show that not everybody thinks that Isa 65 & 66 only applied to the earth made new or heaven. My point is that if "some" people now want it to apply to literal Israel it is very likely that in Isaiah's time the Jews also thought that it literally applied to them in their near future.
I agree the Word of the LORD tells that Spiritual Israel replaced Literal Israel when they rejected the Messiah.
Mat 21:43 KJV Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
As we begin a new quarter and a new month may we remember the last page of the hard copy quarterly. Total Member Involvement (TMI). This is encouraging us how we can all be involve in the mission of the bible. Here Matt 28:19-20 comes into focus. We are given examples how to implement TMI. TMI for in-reach, out-reach and up-reach. Here we see testimonies at its core.
My testimony- I met this woman and her daughter yesterday, I was suddenly singing about- when the roll is call up yonder I be there. She joined in and we were singing. We began a conversation which go beyond to religion and church. Then she said to me her mother once attended the same church I am presently attending. I invited her back to church and her daughter, she took my name and said she will see. Here we are talking about outreach and encouraging missing members. Isn't Jesus love? Rev 5:13. Praises to him who sits of the throne for ever and ever. Amen and Amen.
Have a wonderful time in you walkabout brother Maurice. Thank you for your lucid and inspired commentary.
Two of the chapters in Isaiah that were not covered or really mentioned are chapters 4 and 54, both of which I find meaningful and relevant to the days just before us.
Highly recommended study.
This has been an intense study of the Word of God. My love for the Father and our Savior has found a deeper understanding of the depth and breadth of our Salvation. The suggestion of a new heaven and earth might seem preposterous to those who do not know God’s power and Plan of Salvation, but for the believer has come a paradigm shift how we see and live our life.
We believe that our planet earth will be made anew after all who can will have been sealed with the seal of God the Father – John6:27KJV; Rev.7:2-3KJV; Eph.4:30KJV. He does this because His children's new nature necessitates the new home! Mankind will live again together with its Maker, and all creatures populating this new earth will live in peace with each other.
God showed mankind how to become a citizen and part of the new world by starting to live the new life on the old world with help from the Holy Spirit. Those who turn to the Father and love Him with all their heart now are sealed by Him as they faithfully live as His children here and then transition to the world to come.
Yes, He has promissed a new world, but this is not the reason why I believe and live my reborn life in His Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, now. The Father’s love re-forms the faithful believer's nature to reflect His righteous, merciful, and gracious nature and so prepares us to live in the new world to come; this is His downpayment, His Gift that all who want to be saved can be saved.
The new world is the New Beginning, the new start of life for mankind in a new habitation; everything will be made new! As He created the first earth and all life in it, so will He create the new earth! This mystery of rebirth of all life and matter is unfathomable for the human mind, but, if we have faith that the same God who made the old earth and governs the faithful living in the Kingdom of Heaven on this earth now will be in charge of the New World, then it makes total sense to want to remain a citizen of His Kingdom and also live in the new world to come.
Personally, I look forward to this new life because death and suffering caused by sin will not burden mankind any longer. No more dual identity, no more confusion about right and wrong, no more strife and wars, no more seeing our loved ones going astray and following the lie.
Yes, “the great controversy is ended”. Everyone and everything living in this new world desires to do the Father’s will; the desire for harmony is in everything living. God provided all the means for man to receive His Gift of our Salvation, it is up to man to receive it!
Rev.22:11-14KJV - ”He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. (12) And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (14) Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”