Earth

Earth
Definition: The term “earth” is used in more than one sense in the Scriptures. Usually we think of it as referring to the planet itself, which Jehovah generously endowed so that it could sustain human life with a view to making our lives richly satisfying. It should be realized, however, that “earth” also may be used in a figurative sense, referring, for example, to people living on this planet or to a human society that has certain characteristics.

Will planet Earth be destroyed in a nuclear war?

What does the Bible show to be God’s purpose regarding the earth?

Matt. 6:10: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”

Ps. 37:29: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”
See also Ecclesiastes 1:4; Psalm 104:5.

Is there a possibility that, since the nations show little regard for God’s purpose, they might completely ruin the earth for habitation anyway?

Isa. 55:8-11: “[The utterance of Jehovah is:] As the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. . . . My word . . . will not return to me without results, but it will certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it.”

Will God himself destroy the earth by fire?

Does 2 Peter 3:7, 10 (KJ) support that view? “The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition [“destruction,” RS] of ungodly men. . . . The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up [“burned (burnt) up,” RS, JB; “will vanish,” TEV; “will be made manifest,” NAB; “will be laid bare,” NE; “will be discovered,” NW].” (Note: The Codex Sinaiticus and Vatican MS 1209, both of the 4th century C.E., read “be discovered.” Later manuscripts, the 5th-century Codex Alexandrinus and the 16th-century Clementine recension of the Vulgate, read “be burned up.”)

Does Revelation 21:1 (KJ) indicate that our planet will be destroyed? “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.”