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Will the Earth Survive?

Our planet Earth will not be destroyed by any cataclysm. Why can we be sure of that? Because God promises that the earth “will not be made to totter to time indefinite, or forever.” (Psalm 104:5) Although “generations come and generations go,” states the Bible, “the earth remains forever.”​—Ecclesiastes 1:4, New International Version.

At Psalm 104:5, the permanence of the earth is emphasized by two words used in the original Hebrew of that text​—ʽoh·lamʹ for “time indefinite” and ʽadh for “forever.” ʽOh·lamʹ may be translated “many years” or “perpetual.” According to Harkavy’s Students’ Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, ʽadh means “duration, everlastingness, eternity, for ever.” These two Hebrew words show the durability of the earth to be doubly certain. Consider three further Bible-based reasons to believe that the earth will remain forever.

First, God made the earth to be inhabited by humans​—to be a lush, global paradise of delight, not a wasteland. Isaiah 45:18 describes Jehovah as “the Creator of the heavens, He the true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited.”

Second, God has long promised that humans who choose to obey him would reside forever on this earth in peace. Micah 4:4 promises: “They will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken it.” Thus, according to God’s purpose, the earth must remain eternally as mankind’s home, or else his promises would be in vain.​—Psalm 119:90; Isaiah 55:11; 1 John 2:17.

Third, God has entrusted man with the care of this earth. “As regards the heavens, to Jehovah the heavens belong, but the earth he has given to the sons of men,” says God’s Word. (Psalm 115:16) Can you imagine a loving father giving a beautiful gift to his child and then turning around and destroying it? Of course not! Likewise, neither will Jehovah do any such thing to the earth and its inhabitants, for “God is love.”​—1 John 4:8.

Jesus Christ gave this assurance regarding his Father’s sayings: “Your word is truth.” (John 17:17) And God, who cannot lie, promises: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”​—Psalm 37:29; Titus 1:2.

[Picture Credit Line on page 31]

Globe: Based on NASA photo