Often, one of the first reasons people are hesitant to consider renewed eschatology is because they believe it to be new. I’ve heard it many times, “If it’s new, it isn’t true.” I don’t have a problem with that reasoning. If someone teaches something that no one in the past 2,000 years of Christian history believed or taught, that ought to set off alarm bells in our minds. But, one of the most interesting things I learned when studying the doctrine of renewed eschatology is that it isn’t new at all.
Coming from the churches of Christ, whenever you begin to examine the eschatological beliefs of influential names in the Restoration Movement, you find that many of them also strongly held to the belief that the earth and all creation will be renewed. In this article, I will share several quotes from some of those early leaders, as well as a few other respected names in the churches of Christ.
But before we get to the quotes, I want to make something clear. Just because these men believed that the earth will be renewed doesn’t make it true. We should certainly respect their exceptional intelligence, but their knowledge wasn’t perfect, and neither is ours. I don’t allude to these men and their views to persuade you to believe renewed eschatology. I bring them up to make one simple point: This doctrine isn’t new. It isn’t new to the scope of church history, and it certainly isn’t new to our heritage in the churches of Christ.
Alexander Campbell (1788-1866)
“The Bible begins with the generations of the heavens and the earth; but the Christian revelation ends with the regenerations or new creation of the heavens and the earth. This [is] the ancient promise of God confirmed to us by the Christian Apostles. The present elements are to be changed by fire. The old or antediluvian earth was purified by water; but the present earth is reserved for fire, with all the works of man that are upon it. It shall be converted into a lake of liquid fire. But the dead in Christ will have been regenerated in body before the old earth is regenerated by fire. The bodies of the saints will be as homogeneous with the new earth and heavens as their present bodies are with the present heavens and earth. God re-creates, regenerates, but annihilates nothing; and, therefore, the present earth is not to be annihilated. The best description we can give of this regeneration is in the words of one who had a vision of it on the island of Patmos. He describes it as far as it is connected with the New Jerusalem, which is to stand upon the new earth, under the canopy of the new heaven.” (1)
Walter Scott (1796-1861)
“Just as the present world was ‘formed out of the ruins of the first and original one, so the third and future world shall, by the power of God, be constructed from the ashes of the present one.’ The ‘present habitable globe,’ like the primitive one, will be destroyed, but ‘from the ashes will rise another heaven and another earth…the abode of [the] righteous.’ This is ‘the new heavens and new earth…created as the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ This ‘new earth’ is the inheritance promised Abraham (Rom. 4.13) and it is the ‘hope of all Christians.’” (2)
Moses Lard (1818-1880)
“It appears, then, that no charge will take place in the earth at the commencement of the millennium; nor any at its end, until that last great battle is fought, and the judgment ended, and the wicked cast away. Then no one will be left sleeping in the earth, nor the dust of any lying on it. Every grave will be empty. This, therefore, seems a fitting time to renew both earth and heaven. Where the saints shall be during this event we can not say. Caught up, it may be, to meet the Lord in the air, as he now descends from the throne of judgment, to dwell with his people forever. Be this, however, as it may, they are safe; and the moment has come when the old earth, like the old body, must be changed, and the last stain of sin be blotted out forever.
In an instant, then, as we conceive, consuming no more space than it takes to produce the spiritual body–in an instant, we say, like the explosion of a vast magazine, will the earth be wrapped in a sheet of flame; and in an instant more, all will pass away. The new earth now lies beneath the smiles of God, decked in light and loveliness such as the unfallen only know. Over it hangs the bright, glorious, outspreading heavens resplendent as the throne of the Eternal. And now to this earth, thus refitted up, the saints return to dwell forever and forever. This is to be their eternal home, their everlasting habitation. Then will be realized the truth of the Saviour’s beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” This will be a promise till that moment, then a sublime fact in the fruition of God’s children. The saints have never owned the earth, and never will, till then.
The notion, so very prevalent, that the Christian’s future home lies away in some immeasurably distant region, is only a vulgar error. No foundation whatever exists for it. God built this earth for man, and he does not intend to be defeated in his purpose. Nothing can be weaker than to suppose that the Saviour will rebuild, out of the old material, a new earth, and then leave it to float in space without an occupant. Such will not be the case. The earth in its renewed form will be man’s everlasting dwelling-place. On it will stand the New Jerusalem, the true city of the Great King, and the home of God’s ransomed children. Here amid the splendors of that grand fane shall they spend the cycles of eternity." (3)
Moses Lard (2nd Quote)
In his commentary on Paul’s letter to the Romans, concerning Romans 8:19-22, Lard writes that the word “creation”:
"…includes so much of all creation as fell under the original curse on account of Adam’s sin. Under that curse the earth certainly fell; for God cursed it directly and in so many words. The earth, then, I conclude, is among the things to be “delivered.” From every disability under which it now lies in consequence of sin it will be freed. Not only so, but it will be “translated” into a state of more than pristine newness and glory. It will undergo a change analogous to that which the bodies of the redeemed are to undergo. It will not become absolutely new; but it will be the old earth renewed; and as the change which the body is to undergo will render it a better body than Adam’s was before the fall, so, I conclude the earth will be incomparably better than it ever was. As far as it now is inferior to what it was previous to sin, so far, when renewed, will it excel what it then was. Whenever God has to recreate, it is ever of his purpose to make his second work immeasurably better than the first. The following from Peter confirms the truth of what has just been said: 'We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.' 2 Pet. 3:13. I hence feel safe in including the earth in that portion of creation which is to be "delivered."
But is the earth all that is to be included? Only a probable answer can be given. When the earth was cursed all the inferior creatures on it seem to have been involved with it, and, if so, these too may be restored. Nor can I see any thing unreasonable or inconsistent in this. If the brute of the field browsed on the pastures of Eden, and birds of the air sang in its bowers, why not in the new earth? God made them all to be companions of man at the first, and they were "very good," why not do so again. Not that he will, but only that he may, and surely there are none to wish that he may not…
…The creation is, as a fact, to be delivered. This is one of the events which has always been in the counsels of the Father; and because it is certain to take place, he, when subjecting creation to frailty, did it in hope of this deliverance. Accordingly it has ever since been man's hope, as also the hope of so much of creation as is to be delivered with him…Corruption denotes that state of decay, and ruin, and death, which came upon all in consequence of sin and the curse; while bondage expresses subjection to this state. From this bondage creation is to be delivered; from every effect of sin it is to emerge. Not a stain of sin is to remain on it in the end…
…Into this freedom creation is to be translated. The burden of the curse will be lifted from it, especially from the earth, and possibly from more; and it will be advanced to a degree of beauty and glory, of which perhaps the most fertile imagination can at present form but a poor conception. God originally intended this earth for man; and he will never be defeated in his purpose. It is still to be his inheritance forever; but it will be remolded and adapted to him, and made worthy of him in his highest exaltation." (4)
J.W. McGarvey (1829-1911)
“And creation thus waits; for at and by reason of the fall of man, it became subject to frailty; i. e., it also fell from its original design and purpose, and became abortive, diminutive, imperfect, and subject to premature decay. And this it did not do of its own accord, but because the will of God ordered that it should be thus altered (Genesis 3:17-18); not leaving it, however, without hope that it also should so far share in the redemption of the sons of God as not only to be delivered from the bondage of being corruptible, to which God subjected it, but also to be transferred to the liberty which results from or accompanies the revelation or glorification of the sons of God. And this hopeful waiting is evident, for we Christians know that God designs to make all things new (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1; Revelation 21:5), and also that the whole creation so shares man’s deterioration and degradation that with him it groans, and has, as it were, the pains of childbirth, even to this hour. The figure of childbirth is appropriate, since nature wishes to reproduce herself in a new, fresh and better form, corresponding to that which she had before the fall of man.” (5)
David Lipscomb (1831-1917)
Lipscomb was asked: “What are the times of restoration and the all things spoken of by the prophets in Acts 3:20, 21?” Here’s how he responded:
"Jesus had been to earth and returned to heaven. Heaven must receive him until 'the times of restoration of all things.' Then 'the times of restoration of all things' must be when Jesus returns again to earth–the restoration of all things to their original relation to God. The relation which the world originally sustained to God was broken and destroyed when man, the ruler, rebelled against God. That destruction of the world’s relation to God was more far-reaching and destructive than we realize. The whole material creation shared in the evil. Briers, thistles, thorns grew in the material world, as in the spiritual. Sickness, death, mortality afflicted the material world. When man rebelled against his Maker, the under creation rebelled against man. The laws of the natural world were disordered. The germs of vegetation put forth; biting frosts or burning heat destroys them. Disorder in the laws of the material world came as the result of man’s sin against his Maker. When Jesus comes again, the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and all things in the world will be restored to harmonious relations with God, the Supreme Ruler of the Universe." (6)
David Lipscomb (2nd Quote)
“God is holy. As a pure and holy being, he cannot tolerate guilt and sin. The two cannot permanently dwell together in the universe. When sin came into the world, God left this world as a dwelling place. He cannot dwell in a defiled and sin-polluted temple. He has since dwelt on this earth only in sanctified altars and temples separated from the world and consecrated to his service. He will again make this earth his dwelling place, but it will be only when sin has been purged out and it has been consecrated anew as the new heaven and new earth in which dwelleth righteousness.” (7)
James A. Harding (1848-1922)
“But—thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ grace came with a mighty hand to meet this great, dark, cursing, onrushing tide of woe and death, to roll it back, to free men from death and the earth from every curse of sin, and to give to it a glory and beauty never dreamed of by Adam and Eve in the midst of their Edenic home. This earth, with its surrounding heaven, is to be made over, and on the fair face of the new earth God himself will dwell with all the sons and daughters of men who have been redeemed through grace…through Adam we lost the garden of Eden; through Christ we gain the paradise of God.” (8)
James A. Harding (2nd Quote)
“…the earth is God’s nursery, his training grounds, made primarily for the occupancy of his children, for their education, development and training until they shall have reached their majority, until the end of the Messianic age has come; then it is to be purified a second time by a great washing, a mighty flood, but this time in a sea of fire. Then God will take up his abode himself with his great family upon this new, this renovated and purified earth.” (9)
G.C. Brewer (1884-1956)
“The New Testament references describe a condition that will come after the destruction of the present heaven and earth. That this earth—this existing order of things, including the material earth—is to be destroyed, Peter tells us in terms we cannot misunderstand. That this earth was cursed because of sin and that thorns and briars and noxious weeds came as a result of the curse seems plain also. (Gen. 3:17-19.) Beasts of prey—ferocious and destructive animals—seem to have come after the curse also (Gen. 2:18-20.) And that the earth itself is to be redeemed from the curse seems to be the teaching of the Bible—seems to be the promise of God. (Rom. 8:20-22; 2 Peter 3:13; Daniel 7:14-22.) Man was given dominion over the earth, but transferred his allegiance to Satan, and the curse came, bringing suffering, sorrow, and death. But Christ came to remove the curse and to bring “joy to the earth.” When the earth is redeemed, it will first be renovated by fire. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Then the meek shall inherit the earth. (Ps. 37:9-11; Matt. 5:5; Rev. 5:10; 21:1-7; 2 Peter 3:10-13.)”
“Paul says (Rom. 4:13-16) that the promise to Abraham was that he and his seed should be heirs of the world, and he says this promise must be made sure to all his spiritual seed. We, then, who are by faith children of Abraham and heirs of the promise (Gal. 3:28-29) are yet to inherit the world, though it must be the new earth. We will never get this one. Even Abraham himself was a pilgrim and a stranger on this earth.” (10)
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Great stuff. The reality is that those who irately oppose this teaching and attack its supporters would *never* question the legitimacy of many or all of these men's Christianity. They wouldn't dare question fellowship reaching backward with men who lived centuries ago that they never knew or spent time with. And yet, they'll throw their present day brothers under the bus for believing the exact same thing without batting an eye. Some deep introspection is desperately needed.