Does the earth abide forever or not?

Psalm 104:5; Ecclesiastes 1:4 and Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:10

1. Abides forever
   
   1. (Psalm 104:5) - "He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever."
   2. (Ecclesiastes 1:4) - "A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever."
   
   
2. Does not abide forever
   
   1. (Isaiah 65:17) - "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind."
   2. (2 Peter 3:10) - "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up."
   
   

The context of the Ecclesiastes passage is revealed in the previous verse (3) which says, "What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun?" In other words, the perspective of Ecclesiastes is from a completely human standpoint. The same is occurring in the Psalms passage, a description from a human perspective. Therefore, the writers will see the earth abiding forever because that is exactly how it appears. But, in Isaiah 65:17 and 2 Peter 3:10 the contexts are altogether different. They are speaking of the time in the future when the new heavens and new earth will be made. Take a look at 2 Peter.

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells," (2 Peter 3:10-13).

Since sin is in the world, the earth and all its works will be destroyed and cleansed, and a new heavens and new earth will replace them.

CARM

I too have wondered about this.

Rev 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

This is a quote fom Isa 45 also.
Luk 3:5 'EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED, AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW; THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT, AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH;

I wonder if it will be the same Earth but transformed or changed?
Heb 1:10 And, "YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;
Heb 1:11 THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN; AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT,
Heb 1:12 AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP; LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED. BUT YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END."

The garments of the Earth will be changed?

Psa 102:25,26-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.
Heb 1:10-12-AND, THOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING HAST LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH; AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF THINE HANDS: THEY SHALL PERISH; BUT THOU REMAINEST; AND THEY ALL SHALL WAX OLD AS DOTH A GARMENT; AND AS A VESTURE SHALT THOU FOLD THEM UP, AND THEY SHALL BE CHANGED.
Isa 51:6-LIFT UP YOUR EYES TO THE HEAVENS, AND LOOK UPON THE EARTH BENEATH: 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: BUT MY SALVATION SHALL BE FOR EVER, AND MY RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL NOT BE ABOLISHED.
2 Pe 3:10-BUT 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.
2 Pe 3:12-LOOKING FOR AND HASTING UNTO THE COMING OF THE DAY OF GOD, WHEREIN THE HEAVENS BEING ON FIRE SHALL BE DISSOLVED, AND THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT.
2 Pe 3:11-SEEING THEN THAT ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE DISSOLVED (or destroyed), WHAT MANNER (or kind) OF PERSONS OUGHT YE TO BE IN ALL HOLY CONVERSATION AND GODLINESS(?)
Ps 75:3-THE EARTH AND ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF ARE DISSOLVED: I BEAR UP THE PILLARS OF IT. SELAH.
Mat 24:35-HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY, BUT MY WORDS SHALL NOT PASS AWAY.
Mk 13:31-HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY: BUT MY WORDS SHALL NOT PASS AWAY.
Mk 13:32-BUT OF THAT DAY AND THAT HOUR KNOWETH NO MAN, NO, NOT THE ANGELS WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN, NEITHER THE SON, BUT THE FATHER.
Luk 21:33-HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY: BUT MY WORDS SHALL NOT PASS AWAY.
Mat 5:18-FOR VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS (or disappear), ONE JOT OR ONE TITTLE SHALL IN NO WISE PASS FROM THE LAW, TILL ALL BE FULFILLED (or accomplished).

Rev 16:18 And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.
Rev 16:19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.
Rev 16:20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

This is one of those questions that I have had to leave as a mystery.
I does appear to lean to the distruction argument when viewed literally.
Science would agree that the universe will wind down.
So from a scientific point of view(science is the blind studying God,they are just catching up with Genesis.) creating or having ready new heavens and new earth would eventually be prudent.
Science has recently been seeing possibilities of multiverses which actually agrees with scripture.
In my Fathers house there are many mansions or rooms.

But to rightly divide the word we have to let the word define how to rightly divide the word.

1 Cor. 2:13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

1 Cor. 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

I can't take everything literally,I have to discern whether they are
to be taken literally or Spiritually(cryptic in nature=requiring a key to understand).

Certainly an atheist can use this against scripture until you show him those verses,that usually makes them go away.
So the first step is to pray about it for some time and ask for understanding.

B.A.C.---That is an excellent response---Thank you for posting all that.

Happy

Peace be unto you

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Revelation 21:1 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.

The Bible is full of verses like this, seeming contradictions. There are so many of them, that I have had to assume that they were purposely done. Why would God make His Word difficult to understand? Why did Jesus speak in parables? It seems to me that He separates believers from unbelievers like this.

II Peter 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

II Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

My answer is that the earth will not abide ( I like the use of this word, by the way ) as it is. Like man being changed into his new body, I look for the earth to take on a new body as well.

The word forever in both Hebrew and Greek are idioms, and do not always mean what we English speakers think they mean. For example, in Exodus 21:6 it says: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. Clearly, forever in this context does not mean without end.How long is forever in this case? Another translation says "for the rest of his life". That of course is as long as he could serve him, so although the scripture says forever, it actually means as long as he lives.
This applies to a number of other cases also, including the earth and heaven. Forever in that sense means as long as they exist, and in another instance when referring to the punishment of the wicked as in Revelation 20:10 forever and ever means the punishment endures until one is destroyed, as can be seen from the previous verse Revelation 20:9.

Originally Posted by Chad

Does the earth abide forever or not?

Well, once we slap some wheels on this bad boy and head out on into the big ole open universe, I am sure will put it on blocks once we find a new ride.

Ezek 10:5-16
5 And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.
6 And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.
7 And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.
8 And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings.
9 And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.
10 And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.
11 When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.
12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.
13 As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.
14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
16 And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.

BIG BLOCK with QUAD, kewl.

Genesis 1:1-3 (King James Version)

Genesis 1

¹In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
²And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
³And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.


There are those Christians among us who believe that GOD created the Earth in vs 1 then in vs 3 had to do it all over again because Satan whom HE had thown to the Earth had messed it up beyond all rescue.
They believe that this was the time of Atlantis and the dinosaurs.

That may be. I would explain some things


Then there is the time during the Great White Throne judgement coming up. The Earth is aparrently spinning right out of its orbit. And no place is found for it.


Revelation 20:10-12 (King James Version)


¹⁰And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
¹¹And 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.
¹²And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.


It could be so.... No contradiction

I Believe...Genesis 1:1 = Perfection

Genesis 1:2 = Judgment - Result Fall of Lucifer and His Angels....'waste, void and darkness

Genesis 1:3 = Re-Generation / Re-Creating - Hebrew (bara / create) (asah / make...Re-Working Elements...As In Revelation Ch. 21 "New Heaven and Earth"

I see it as a process...Creation / Fall / Redemption

As With Father God...(Thought's, And Motive's are Realities...) He Fully Knew All Things From The Beginning...Before HE Created Heaven and Earth! They Would Be Forever...Eternal! (Thank You Jesus)

I look as it from the point of our planet, the earth, does exist forever. That doesn't mean that it cannot undergo restoration. Just as you would haul an old ship into port to retrofit and upgrade it, so too God will renew this Earth again one day to perfection once more. Same goes with the rest of the universe. New physical bodies are promised to Christians one day. These new bodies will be just as permanent as our renewed heavens and earth are, all made up of matter. Perhaps the nature of matter will be changed somehow, one can only speculate.