universe itself is dying. The great agnostic Bertrand Russell sadly commented, many years ago:
Some day, the sun will grow cold, and life on earth will cease. The whole epoch of animals and plants is only an interlude between ages that will be too cold. . . . This, at least, is what science regards as most probable, and in our disillusioned generation, it is easy to believe. From evolution, so far as our present knowledge shows, no ultimately optimistic philosophy can be validly inferred.1
Long before the sun grows cold, as a matter of fact, the earth could die biologically. The hydrosphere and atmosphere are becoming polluted, the soil is being eroded, the nutrients in the soil are being leached away, and food supplies are increasingly contaminated.
Man has long been aware that his world has a tendency to fall apart. Tools wear out, fishing nets need repair, roofs leak, iron rusts, wood decays, loved ones sicken and die, relatives quarrel, and nations make war.2
Somewhat more recently, the environmentalist and socialist Jeremy Rifkin pointed up this problem very sharply.
The entropy law will preside as the ruling paradigm over the next period of history. Albert Einstein said that it is the premier law of all science; Sir Arthur Eddington referred to it as the supreme metaphysical law of the entire universe.3
Later in his book, Rifkin made the following observation:
Now that the environment we live in is becoming so dissipated and disordered that it is apparent to the naked eye, we are beginning for the first time to have second thoughts about our views on evolution, progress, and the creation of things of material value.4
This universal tendency toward decay and death seems obvious to everyday experience, but was only formalized as a law of science a little over a century ago. It is significant, therefore, that this principle has been noted in the Bible for thousands of years.
Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. (Ps. 102:25–26).
For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner (Isa. 51:6).
Heaven and earth shall pass away (literally “are passing away”), but my words shall not pass away (Matt. 24:35).
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now (Rom. 8:22).
This universal law of decay is considered today as among the most certain of all scientific principles. As the second law of thermodynamics, or the law of increasing entropy, it governs all natural processes. It is also called “time’s arrow.” As time goes on, the arrow points down!
But the same law that prophesies eventual disintegration also testifies of primeval creation. Instead of a message of consummate pessimism as interpreted by Bertrand Russell and Jeremy Rifkin, therefore, the entropy principle really speaks of ultimate divine purpose in creation. Since the universe is now “running down,” it must once have been “wound up.” There must be a great First Cause able to create a universe. Thus the real message of the second law of thermodynamics is: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).
God is omniscient and omnipotent, and He certainly cannot fail in His purpose in creation. Even though the whole creation is groaning and travailing together in pain, its present “bondage of decay” cannot possibly continue forever. Long before it reaches ultimate death, God will intervene, and “the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).
Just as the study of present processes cannot tell us anything about the past events of the creation period, neither can present processes give us any information about the future events of the deliverance period. The processes of the present are the only processes accessible to the scientific method, and they all operate within the framework of the second law. Thus, present processes can give us no information about any processes of creation, past or future, since they are diametrically opposite to the decay processes as specified by the second law. Biblical revelation is required for information about both the first creation and the new creation.
Happily, however, “we have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Pet. 1:19).
The Eternal Earth
Much is revealed in Scripture about the future of planet Earth, but we first need to resolve what seems initially to be an apparent contradiction in these prophecies. That is, the Bible teaches both that the earth is to last forever, and also that the earth is to be destroyed. As is always true with apparent conflicts in Scripture, however, the contradiction is only superficial. There is complete harmony when both biblical and scientific considerations are more carefully analyzed.
Such passages as the following speak of the eternal permanence of the earth and of the entire created universe:
And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever (Ps. 78:69).
Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever (Ps. 104:5).
Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created. He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass (Ps. 148:3–6).
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever (Eccles. 1:4).
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever (Dan. 12:3).
There are many other Scriptures to the same effect, but it should not surprise us that when God creates anything, it will endure forever. Otherwise, His purpose in creation would have been defeated, and that is impossible for the Creator.
I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him (Eccles. 3:14).
As far as the physical creation is concerned, its permanence has been confirmed by the most important and universal of all scientific laws. The first law of thermodynamics, or the law of conservation of matter and energy, states that the total amount of matter and energy stays constant with time. Nothing can be created, but neither can anything be annihilated. For the earth to be annihilated, it would require a miraculous intervention by the Creator to uncreate His creation! But He is the Creator, not the annihilator, so this He will never do.
The Destroyed Earth
But, then, what about such Scriptures as the following?
Heaven and earth shall pass away (Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33).
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them (Rev. 20:11).
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in 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 (2 Pet. 3:10).
The reconciliation of these two apparently contradictory teachings of the Scriptures is obvious when