The World Is Passing Away

Today, there is some obsessing over the end of the world. Many believe the Mayan calendar makes such prediction for the date, December 21, 2012. Early and recent history documents the scattered ashes of literally thousands of failed predictions about the end.

Scientific Evidence of Mayan Calendar Prediction Lacking

Susan Milbrath, a Maya archaeoastronomer and curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History, commented in "We have no record or knowledge that the world would come to an end at that point."

Anthropologist, Susan Gillespie, (University of Florida), remarks: "The 2012 phenomenon comes from media and from other people making use of the Maya past to fulfill agendas that are really their own." (USA Today).

There appears to be no scientific evidence for a reported end of the world within the next few years. It is my opinion that this prediction will come and go as did all the rest.

Bible Predictions of the End of the World

In contrast to the above, there is language in the biblical text which claims that the world was passing away as early as the first century. Some write this off as inaccurate and claim the Bible is uninspired, it's writer's mistaken or laboring under a delusion.

Biblical authors, as primitive as they may seem, recorded with amazing accuracy the end of the world. In fact, they wrote of its passing as current in their day. "For the form of this world is passing away," (1 Cor. 7:31).

Without some knowledge of the Biblical context, this language appears to be a myth. Apostolic writers had no delusions about the end the material universe. In fact, they knew that God promised that it continues forever, (Gen. 8:21-22; Psa. 89:37; 148:6; Jer. 31:35-37; Eccl. 1:4)

So permanent is God's creation, that he compares its duration with the throne of Christ, a reign which he says has "no end." (Psa. 89:37; Isa. 9:6,7, Lk. 1:33).

What then do we make of the "end of the world" texts? They speak not of the universe but of a covenantal world. The covenant God entered with Israel at Sinai, (Ex. 19), is called a creation (Heb. 9:11) In like manner, when he initiated a new covenant with Israel, (Heb. 8:6f) it is called a new creation, (2 Cor. 5:17).

The Covenant World

The end of the world focus of Christ and the apostolic writers, center on the passing of the Old Covenant, and not on the cosmic universe. An acquaintance with apocalyptic imagery in both Old and New Testaments support the conclusions here.

For this reason, Christ saw the passing of heaven and earth as equal to the passing of the law of Moses, (Matt. 5:17, 18). All such New Testament references apply to this event. See Matt. 24:3,29,35; 1 Cor. 10:11; Heb. 1:10-12; 12:26-27; 2 Pet. 3:10-12; 1 John 2:17; Rev. 6:12,13; 20:11).

By way of contrast, the New Heavens and earth, God's new creation representing the kingdom and Christianity, have no end but remain forever, Isa. 65:17; Lk. 1:33; Eph. 3:21).

Why did God bring the Old Covenant world to an end? He declared it a world incapable of efficaciously removing sin, due to human weakness and atonement through the blood of bulls and goats, (Rom. 8:3, Heb. 10:1-4), thus styling a ministration of death, (2 Cor. 3:6-7).

For this purpose, God created a new world of righteousness, establishing the new everlasting covenant (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:15; 13:20), wherein sin is remembered no more through Christ's finished work of offering his own body for atonement, (Heb. 9:28). This righteousness belongs to all who embrace Christ through the New Covenant.

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